


Once Upon A Time There Was A Spider-man...

by Stealthily_Nobody



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Because Morgan Stark is awesome, But I'm just gonna tag in just in case, F/M, M/M, Morgan Stark-centric, Peter has a 15 year old body but he's really 31, kinda but not really underage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-23 18:17:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 24,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19706845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stealthily_Nobody/pseuds/Stealthily_Nobody
Summary: A long time ago, an evil monster took her brother away from her. Now, Morgan was determined to save her older brother, no matter what.Or, a Rapunzel AU where Peter's the damsel in distress, Wade's the prince charming who can't actually save anyone, and Morgan is the true hero that saves her brother.





	Once Upon A Time There Was A Spider-man...

**Author's Note:**

> Mind: You know that Rapunzel idea from The Imaginary Friend? Let's write a story about it. 
> 
> Me: Sounds like a cool idea. Let's do it!
> 
> 25,000 words later
> 
> Me: What have I done?
> 
> Also, I wrote this all at once and never looked over it again. I apologize in advance for any mistakes.

“Once upon a time, there lived an arrogant king who ruled loosely over his country. The king preferred to invent new weapons and inventions than rule over his people. Normally, this would have been catastrophic for the country, but the king married a brilliant woman who ruled in his stead. 

The king, however, was indeed arrogant and made enemies with many magic users in the realm. He believed that magic was inferior to his weapons and managed to prove this fact quite a few times. He fought against many minor nations’ magic leaders and emerged victorious. He then lorded these wins over the realm as evidence of superiority in technology over magic. 

The king’s boasting soon brought trouble when a spiteful mage cursed his wife with self destructing magic. The magic would kill her. The king tried to defeat the curse with technology, but after many trials and the wife nearing death, the king was forced to find magic help. But, the king’s scorn towards magic had created much animosity among magic users, and none would help him. 

None, except for a strange purple man, named Thanos, who agreed to help the king for a price. When the king replied ‘anything’ the purple man smirked and informed the man that he would one day request an object of greater value to the king than his wife. The king, believing that he’d never have anything as precious as his queen, agreed. 

Thanos gifted the king with an amulet and told the king that it would cure the queen’s curse. And it did. The queen was no longer cursed with uncontrollable magic, and soon the memory of the event faded from the minds of the king and queen. The king even forgot the promise he made to the purple titan.

And so not yet a year after the curse was lifted, the queen produced an heir. A young boy with all the intelligence of his father, and the charm of his mother. However, the encounter with the curse and the amulet months before the child’s conception resulted in the son being born with magic of his own. His hands and feet could stick to objects, his arms produced a synthetic spider webbing, and a sixth sense warned him of danger. But more than that, the son was gifted with super strength and a keen sense of both hearing and sight. 

However, what truly set him apart from others was his heart, so innocent and loving.

Despite his innate magic, the king adored his son. His son taught the arrogant king, compassion and kindness in ways his wife could never. The two, the king and the prince, spent much of their time together creating, not weapons, but innovations that improved the lives of everyone around them. Irrigation systems, that swept waste away from one’s home, and lights that operated on electricity, generated from the nearby river. 

Other, powerful countries became interested in this king and his son. With the disappearance of the king’s disdain for magic, many other magic welcoming countries, like Asgard, opened their gates to trade and exchange of wealth and knowledge. And so, the king’s country flourished like never before under the watch of his queen and the goodness of his son. 

Finally, 15 years after the birth of their first son, the king and queen decided to have another child. The prince was ecstatic to be an older brother. More than the king and queen, the prince rushed around the castle, preparing it for his younger sibling’s arrival, and inventing all sorts of child appropriate inventions. The prince’s excitement brought a smile to the king and queen’s faces. 

In fact, it was the prince that named the new child. He spent days creating lists of names for either gender, and then crossing out the names he didn’t like, or did think would fit his sibling. Eventually, he settled for a gender neutral name. HIs parents loved their son, and agreed to consider the name he presented. 

And then, the day birth arrived. Both the king and the prince awaited the arrival of the child. After many hours, they finally joined the queen to meet the new princess. The prince held out his arms in a silent request to hold his sister, and the queen placed her daughter in her son’s arms for the first and last time. For the moment that the infant was placed in the prince’s arms, the room began to shake. 

Then, right before the prince and the princess, the air fizzed blue sparks before revealing the purple giant: Thanos. With a snide grin at the king, Thanos announced that he’s ‘come to collect what’s owed.’ His hand gestured at the couple’s children and the king felt a spike of fear. While he loved his wife very, very much, that love couldn’t compare to the love he felt for his children. He finally remembered the deal he’d made with Thanos all those years before, and he feared for his children’s lives. 

The king and queen begged for the man to reconsidered. They’d give up anything else, even each other. ‘But please don’t touch the children!’

Except Thanos just smirk as he repeated what he told the king all those years before, ‘an object of greater value than your wife was the price as agreed. Your children are both of greater value than your wife, but equal value to each other. Choose one to give to me.’ 

The king felt sick in remembrance, he hadn’t expected to love his children more than his wife. In fact, he hadn’t even considered children then, until his wife was healed and she desired a child. But he loved his son and his daughter both. He couldn’t choose one to never see again. His daughter was so innocent, and full of potential, and his son was the best thing that had ever happened to him. 

The prince, however, knew what had to be done. He moved to his mother and gently placed his sister into his mother’s arms with a quick kiss to both of their foreheads. He then approached his father and pulled the king into a tight hug, and whispered ‘I love you’ into the king’s ear. 

The prince, so selfless and caring, then faced Thanos, and told the purple titan, that he was the sacrifice. With a longing look back at his family, the prince drifted towards the titan as if captured in the giant’s magic. Once the prince was in reach of Thanos’s arm, the purple titan sealed his arm around the prince, tight enough that the king and queen could see their son wince, before closing his other fist. Thanos and the prince vanished into blue sparks. 

The king and queen search all the realms in search of their son. They announced a hefty reward for information about the prince, and a ransom worth of wealth for his return. The entire world looked for the son, and eventually information was found. 

Thanos had locked the prince up in a tower on the edge of Wakanda. But even the messenger hadn’t been able to do more than confirm the prince’s identity before Thanos appeared and almost killed the man. After that, Thanos placed two dragons in the forest to guard the prince. And these dragons were the most ferocious beasts in all the world. 

At first the king and queen tried to launch war against the dragons, but that many people just created a really easy path for the dragons to torch and murder thousands. And so, the king and queen decided that smaller groups of highly skilled individuals were required. The king even created a personal weapon to fight against the dragons, and gathered a group of leaders from some of the most powerful realms. This group was titled: The Avengers. 

However, even the Avengers couldn’t defeat the dragons. 

They never gave up though. After each defeat, the Avengers would return to their respective countries and regain their strength. They would do good in their own realms and team up to fight smaller evils. This lead to them being hailed as heroes by the common folk. But, no matter what they tried they never defeated the dragons. 

The king never stopped trying to fight against the dragons, until the fateful battle where the dragons destroyed his suit’s power source, and almost killed him. The king returned home critically injured and even once healed could no longer fight. With the loss of the king, the remaining Avengers drifted apart. Occasionally they would request help from former teammates to fight against small evils, but they gave up on saving the prince. Over 250 attempts had been made by the Avengers to save the prince, and none had worked. 

Discouraged, the king and queen placed the highest bounty imaginable for their son’s return and hoped beyond hope that someday, someone would save their son. 

And to this day, the prince remains trapped in the tower guarded by dragons. And his parents till mourn him every day of the year.”

Tony finished the story, misty eyed and feeling a never closing hole in his chest. It’d been 16 years since he last saw his son, but by god did he miss the boy. Although, by now, his son would be an adult, no longer the gangly teenager he’d lost all those years ago. He absolutely hated this story, as it felt like a personal failure. And it was. He made the trade. He didn’t think of the consequences. He failed to protect his son, and now he’d most likely never see Peter again. 

However, Morgan, his brilliant daughter, adored this story. Even now, as a teenager, she still requested the story every year on her birthday. And now, she was turning 16, the same age Peter was when Thanos stole him away. She’d grown up strong, just like her mother. She was an excellent leader and could charm even the most stubborn of people into her plots. For just as she had inherited so much of Pepper, Morgan retained Peter’s mischievous streak, and knew how to pull others into her schemes. 

He loved his daughter, and he couldn’t imagine not experiencing her childhood. But still, he wished Peter had been there through it all. His son would have loved helping his daughter in all aspects of life. He missed Peter. So, so much.    
  


Ever since she was a child, Morgan had heard the tale of the captured prince, and she knew that the story was definitely personal to her parents. While the story was wildly popular outside of the keep, within no one ever mentioned it. The only time Morgan could ever convince her parents into telling the story was on her birthday, and even then it broke her parents to whisper the story of a failed king. 

Her parents thought they hid the truth well. And maybe they did if Morgan was anyone else, but the daughter of Tony Stark. She knew about the metal weapon suit that her father hid in the depths of his laboratory, and she knew about the paintings that had been stored away for years. In all the pictures hidden away was a young boy who she’d never met, and yet felt some sense of love whenever she saw the boy. In many paintings, the boy was also accompanied by her parents, so it wasn’t hard for Morgan to reach the conclusion that he was her brother.

From there it was easy for Morgan to unveil that the boy was the same boy from the story. He was a prince, who was the son of Tony Stark. So right there meant he must be intelligent. Then, her father’s suits were just like the ones in the stories. Finally, neither her mother, nor her father ever talked about her brother and they both hated the legend of the captured prince with a vengeance that seemed personal. 

But Morgan also knew that her parents missed her brother. While her birthday was always a celebration, and her parents always smiled and encouraged her to enjoy her birthday, their eyes always held a certain dimness to them on that day. A dimness that linger throughout the year, but intensified on her birthday and the 10th of August. On those days, Morgan would hear her parents cry whenever they believed that no one could hear them. 

They wanted him to return, and Morgan wanted to meet him. While the rest of the world had reduced her brother to a fairytale damsel, he was a real person to her mother and her father. He was a son, and a brother. And unfairly, in Morgan’s opinion, he never got to have the younger sister he so desperately desired. 

Morgan wanted to fix it. In fact, she would. From the tender age of 6, Morgan had decided that she would be the one to rescue her brother. 

And so the planning began. Morgan collected maps of Wakanda as a hobby and mapped a trip from home to the forest. She went through the distance, and calculated the time it would take her to travel that far. She planned how much food she’d need to bring, and what items she’d need for sleeping and the journey. She thought about what her brother would need after being released from the tower. Clean clothes, of course, and food. She even a sack of presents she’d secretly collected for her brother throughout the years. 

And then, she realised that she’d probably need to fight the dragons. And so, she learned as much combat as she could from Aunt Natasha, and later continued to learn other techniques from other warriors. She honed her skill unrelentingly until she was hailed as a warrior princess. While her brother had been an inventor and a peacekeeper, Morgan was a fighter. She lived for the thrill of a fight, but knew that every match demanded victory so that she could one day rescue her brother. 

Morgan had been born without a speck of magic in her blood, unlike her brother, but she learned how to compensate for it. By the age of 13 she could defeat any and all magic users in fights. She learnt to be swift and merciless. She learnt how to use an opponent's strength against them. And how to counter many magical attacks. 

As a warrior, Morgan was disciplined. Each and every movement was precise and controlled. She didn’t allow herself to get lost in the glory of a victory. She had a mission. 

Her parents didn’t really approve of her fighting, but they supported her ambition, and her father even reverted to creating weapons for her. With the weapons, Morgan became even stronger. Many of the weapons nullified magic attacks, and she eventually had a sword that could even absorb the magic and return it to the attack at twice the power. 

Maybe her parents did know what she was planning, but they never expected her to leave so soon. 

On the night of her 16th birthday, Morgan picked up her packed bags and bid farewell to the castle, promising to herself not to return until her brother was freed. She waited until the guards were in mid rotation when she struck. Keeping to the shadows, Morgan snuck past the predictable guards and exited through her father’s secret passage. The passage was an underground walkway that her father had invented to evacuate the keep in emergency situations. After the incident with Morgan’s brother, her father redid the entire keep, upgrading emergency protocols and even creating antimagic defenses. 

Eventually, Morgan reached the end of the passage and exited to find herself in the Fellson Forest to the east of the keep, exactly where she wanted to be. To get to the dragon forest on the north end of Wakanda, Morgan would have to venture east, through York’s neighbouring country of America and then because of the Yggdrasil mountain range, she’d have to choose between Asgard and Jotunheim. 

Currently, she was leaning towards Asgard. While Thor, the crown prince of Asgard was a former member of the Avengers and a family friend who would no doubt tattle to her parents, Jotunheim was the home of the Frost Giants. Not only was the country hypothermia inducing to non frost giants, but the Frost Giants themselves weren’t very keen on guests. Loki, Thor’s adopted brother and a Frost Giant himself, had once told Morgan that some Frost Giants even feasted on the flesh of what they call ‘pink skins’. (Although, to this day, Morgan has no idea if Loki was telling the truth, or simply pulling her leg. He was known as the Trickster after all.)

After passing the Yggdrasil mountain range, Morgan would finally reach West Wakanda. From there she just needed to go north until she reached the forest. It should be easy. Or not, since Wakanda was the most technological country in the world, except for York. In fact, her father and the Wakandan Princess Shuri were constantly competing against each other. 

The fact remained, all road in Wakanda lead to the capital city which was surrounded by the force field. For Morgan to get to the north of Wakanda from the west, she’d need to enter the capital city, and everyone was ID-ed before passing through the barrier. Just to get through to the north of Wakanda, she’d have to leave a trail that her father would undoubtedly be able to discover and follow. 

But Morgan was hesitant to go around. Around meant traversing through the independent cities of Knowhere and Sakaar along with SHIELD, the country of spies. Not only had Morgan heard enough stories about Knowhere and Sakaar to know that absolutely did not want to enter those cities ever, but SHIELD was the home of Aunt Natasha and Uncle Clint, along with Nick Fury and Agent Coulson. Entering SHIELD was practically asking for her to be discovered and sent home. 

Well, one step at a time. First to find the road through Fellson, which would lead to America. If she remembered correctly from her father’s notes, the road should be just a few kilometres east of where she was. To find her bearings, Morgan scampered up the nearest tree and gazed in amazement at the completely clear sky the sparkled with millions of stars. She’d never seen such a view from her window in the keep. 

After admiring the sky for a few moments, Morgan located the North star and oriented herself. Morgan then returned the the forest floor and sped east until the road appeared, more a deer trail really. Morgan continued east along the trail until morning’s first blush lit the forest in a dim grey light, and the song birds began to wake the forest inhabitants. With the light, Morgan retreated into the forest, out of sight from the trail, and retrieved her blanket from her backpack. 

Her blanket was frayed around the edges, and the softness of the fabric had dissipated years ago. But still, the blanket was Morgan’s favourite and had been since a young age. The blanket was weaved with blue and red, and the threads loosened in some places, indicating a less than skilled weaver. However, the creator had embroidered her name in the centre of the blanket, and in the corner were the letters P.S. Morgan assumed they were the initials of the creator. Morgan’s mother and father had wrapped her in the blanket since she’d been born, even though they never told her who gave them the blanket. Just being wrapped in the blanket always made Morgan feel safe, as if someone was giving her a warm hug filled with love. 

She set the blanket on a mostly flat piece of ground, sat down on the blanket, and placed her backpack to the right of herself. After a quick meal of dried meat and yesterday’s bread, she settled down to sleep. When she woke, Morgan practiced her fighting skills in that same clearing until the sun set once again. Then she returned to the trail and continued under the light of the moon. 

She continued this for the next 3 days, passing the York-America border and continuing through the outskirts of America. The days were beginning to feel repetitive, and even though Morgan was determined to reach her brother, she was a warrior. And warriors always longed for the thrill of a fight. As desired, on that fourth night, as she was running her sword against the tall grass at her left, the sound of screaming penetrated the typical silence. 

Morgan snapped to attention, her sword lifting from her loose hold, into a readied position. Her ears tracked the sound and dialed into the direction with the second scream. The sound was coming from the south. Without a second thought Morgan sprinted towards the sound. A slight smile almost forming of her face. 

However, despite what people said about Stark’s daughter, Morgan wasn’t stupid. She was a warrior by choice, not because she wasn’t smart enough to match her father. Morgan just applied her smarts in a different area. Anyway, she’d immediately identified the scream as non-human, and most likely that of a monster. But she was eager for the fight, and she’d settle for interrupting a monster fight. 

When Morgan reached the scene of the scream, she found an unexpected sight. Instead of a monster vs monster fight like she was expecting, a hydra stood in the centre of a small clearing that funneled into a cave entrance. It was the hydra screaming as a dark haired male swung at the beast with what looked like his arm. 

Charging at the monster with her sword, Morgan yelled out to the man, “Heads up!” 

The man moved to the right as he looked over his shoulder to see Morgan swing her sword right into one of the hydra’s necks. However, instead of complementing Morgan, as she expected, he scoffed and commanded, “Don’t go for the head. Or the neck for that matter.” 

“Huh?” Morgan questioned, “Isn’t that what you normally do in battle? Go for the head and all that?” 

“It’s a hydra!” The man screamed, exasperation evident in his voice, “Cut off one head and two grow back!” 

With that remark, the head atop the neck Morgan had pierced fell off. However, just like the man said, the neck split in two and two head emerged from the stumps.

“That’s revolting,” Morgan commented, before turning to the man, “Well, what if we cut off all the heads at once?”

Before the man could say anything, Morgan sprung into action once more. With a swish, she uncovered her second sword and in a two handed sword maneuver, she leapt into the sair and slashed at the hydra. Quickly and efficiently, Morgan successfully chopped all the heads off and stuck her landing on the other side of the headless body. 

“Idiot,” Was all the man said in response before the body began to convulse. Each neck divided and regrew a head a top of it. One, two… 25, 26 heads. And each head hissed at Morgan as she retreated towards the dark haired man. 

“Okay, what’s the plan, Stan?” Morgan asked as she reached the man. Upon closer inspection, she found the arm he’d been hitting the multi headed serpent with was in fact a metal arm. Closer inspection revealed that the metal was in fact vibranium, a metal found only in Wakanda. 

If the man took offense at her nickname, he didn’t mention it. Instead he studied her for a moment as if appraising her skill, before commanding, “Target the chest. Cut out the heart.”

With that wonderful briefing, the man charged at the hydra and began smacking his way through the torrent of heads. Morgan followed closely behind (or as closely as one without superspeed could to one with superspeed.), and readied her twin blades. Metal arm cleared a path through the heads to the chest, and then with a cry, Morgan slide her swords home. 

Once the swords enter the hydra’s chest, all of its heads raised into the air, and screamed one finally time before falling limp all around Morgan and Metal Arm. Morgan had to slice necks as even in death the hydra attempted to murder Morgan via heads. Once the dust from the falling heads cleared, Morgan cleaned her swords on her pant legs as her eyes sought out Metal Arm. 

Now that the beast was obliterated, Metal Arm also sought her out. He found her moments before she found him and stormed towards her. In fact, he actually looked kinda menacing with his powerful stride and swinging, muscular arms. 

Morgan’s grip on her swords tightened as she called out, “Not a step closer, creep. I know what men like you do to innocent little girls like me.”

And that actually got a slight chuckle out of the man. But, like, very slight. More of a slip of the mouth really. And before Morgan could even feel pride at causing that snort, he proceeded to rip into her, “Kid, have you never fought a hydra before? Never go for the heads. I thought everybody knew that by now.” 

“Well, uh,” Morgan didn’t have an answer to that. She’d never actually faced a hydra in battle before, “York?”

“Huh,” and it seemed that the man actually took that as a reasonable explanation, “I guess you Yorkers don’t have the same hydra infestation. I swear, they’re lured here by Stevie’s upstanding morals.” 

“Stevie?” Morgan questions slowly, dread creeping in as it dawned on her just who this man was. 

“Yeah, sorry, you probably know him as Steve Rogers, Captain America.” The man smiled then. A real smile, albeit a small one, and held his arm out for a handshake. 

This wasn’t good. The man before her was Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers’s close friend and an enhanced. Steve and her father had a begrudging sense of respect for each other as they worked together in the Avengers. However, Steve had pulled back from the Avengers when he discovered his previously believed dead friend, Bucky, was alive. Of course that had created a rift between Steve and her father, who wanted nothing more than to gear up and fight the dragons guarding her brother’s tower. 

Worse still, during those years Bucky had been playing dead, he’d really been training as a superspy with a secret guild of assassins. 

Morgan was so screwed. 

Mustering up fake courage, Morgan shook his hand. Bucky nodded at her firm grip and then commented, “I don’t think a girl like you need worry about creepy men. I think they should be worried about you. What’s your name, kid?” 

“Morgan.” Morgan replied, withholding her last name. Hopefully Bucky didn’t make the connection between the casual warrior Morgan and Morgan, the warrior princess. Oh, who was she kidding, it was too obvious. She should have used a fake name!

And just like she thought, he saw through her instantly. Realisation twinkled in his eyes as he asked, “Morgan Stark?” 

“That’s right,” Morgan confirmed stiffly. How was she going to prevent him from reporting to Steve and ultimately her father?

“You’re a long way from York keep, young Stark,” Bucky commented, “Does your father know about this?” 

“Yes,” Morgan said too quickly for it to be believable. Bucky raised an eyebrow and she caved, “Okay, fine. He doesn’t know, and I’d like to keep it that way. I’m on a mission!” 

Luckily, Bucky didn’t immediately start dragging her back to America castle. Instead he continued to interrogate her, “And what mission requires the crown princess and only heir to the York throne?” 

Morgan debated between a lie and the truth, but ultimately decided to continue with the truth, “What if I told you that I wasn’t the only Stark heir?” 

Bucky hummed, “Continue.”

“So, you know that my father created the Avengers right?” a nod, “Okay, so the reason for the group was to defeat the dragons guarding that forest in northern Wakanda. And that forest is where supposedly a trapped prince is locked away.” another nod, “So, I’m pretty sure that the prince captured there is my older brother.” Morgan finished in a flurry of words. 

For the first time since she met him, Bucky actually looked surprised, “So you’re telling me that Stark has a son?”

“He does,” Morgan exclaimed, “I mean I’ve never actually met my brother, and my parents never talk about him, but I’ve found evidence all around the keep. I know at the very least that my parents had a son who disappeared at the same time as the prince was locked away. My father formed the Avengers to save that prince. Tell me that doesn’t sound like he’d my brother?” 

“Okay, I believe you, kid,” Bucky said before frowning, “But what are you planning on doing? Taking the dragons yourself? Not even the Avengers could defeat the dragons.”

“Well, I’m not the Avengers!” Morgan snapped, “I’ve been training my whole life, solely to defeat the dragons and save my brother. In the past years, anti-magic weapons have really improved, and I’m a master at wielding them. I won’t, I can’t return home without my brother. My parents act as if he never existed! And I can’t accept that!” 

Bucky’s frown softened at Morgan’s words. With a sympathetic voice, he told her, “I understand. When I disappeared, everyone told Stevie that he had to move on and burry the past. If he had, though, I would have never been saved. Sometimes, just having someone who tenacious is enough to save someone.” 

Hope rekindled, Morgan pressed on, “So you won’t tell my father?”

“No,” Bucky shook his head to emphasise the point, “Good luck saving your brother, kid. You’re going to need it.” 

With that, he strolled away. But before he vanished into the wilderness, he stuck a hand out in farewell. 

Confident that Bucky wouldn’t rattle her out, Morgan returned to the path and continued her journey. Maybe she really could save her brother. After all, Steve Rogers had saved Bucky from evil brainwashing. Surely with some perseverance, she could save her brother. Right? 

And so, Morgan marched onwards, out of the densely populated spruce forests that covered most of America’s unpopulated lands and the east of York, and into the colder, stonier path that lead to the Yggdrasil mountain range. With the change in atmosphere came the chilling mountain winds that whipped down from frost mountain heights, causing Morgan’s nose to run and then freezing the liquid mucus. This was a cold that killed many and transmitted sickness like a field of ripened dandelions. 

Like her father, Morgan despised the cold, and normally when she passed through Asgard, she’d travel through the north end which featured much more temporal temperatures. However, most of Asgards cities, that she was avoiding, littered the north. Hardly anyone, but soldiers guarding the Asgard-Jotunheim boards, or frost giants passed through the mountain range. The cold scared most people away before they even reached the snow channels. 

Once a person has ascended the road leading through the mountain range, they reach a field of fluffy whiteness, eerily similar to cotton puffs, but cold to the touch. But, while the scenery might look picturestic, it also obscured the path. Because of the year round snow fall, soldiers walked and padded down the path every few days, but that didn’t completely prevent travelers from finding a blank field. Many who did not know the pathway intimately could lose their path in the slow falling rain, and become lost in the frozen snow. 

Worse still, the snow, while beautiful puffy, was actually metres thick. And the puffy nature of the snow actually allowed it to act as quicksand. Make one wrong step off the path and a person might find themselves buried in snow that raised over 3 feet above their heads. Drowning in frozen water was a ever possibility for people while traversing this trail. To create the trail, the soldiers walked on large contraptions that increased the surface area of their feet, and ran a metal tube across the snow. 

As she followed the rocky trail that lead up the mountains, Morgan pulled out her coat and extra leggings to combat the cold. She procured mittens and a long winding scarf that wrapped around her face into a cocoon from her backpack. By the time she the path flattened out into the snow fields, she was covered in a least 4 layers of clothing that puffed out and limited her movement. 

Luckily, it hadn’t snowed for a few days, and the soldiers’ trail was visibly trampled. In curiosity, Morgan tried to step off the trail and immediately regretted it when the snow swallowed her leg up to her hip. Every inch of her foot that Morgan gained was a battle against a ferocious enemy. The snow around her leg melted slightly and weighed even heavier. Removing snow from around her leg did nothing, as more snow replaced the snow removed. After almost half an hour, Morgan finally managed to free her leg completely from the snow and resolved to stay on the path. 

As she walked, Morgan admired the pure snow around her that sparkled like a field of diamonds, and even ran her mitten covered hand across the fluffy snow besides the trail, creating small rivets in the even snow. The clang of metal weapons and hidden objects rang out, uncontested by anything. Puffs of breath preceded her as she sped up to reach a snow hut before nightfall. 

Because of the days long trail through the mountain, small cabins had been constructed every 20 kilometres. The cabins were small wooden structures that protect travellers from the night winds and housed a stone chimney that allowed for the creation of a fire. Soldiers kept the cabins stored with wood for travellers through the cabins were predominantly used by the soldiers. 

Morgan had already passed the first one, and with the sun beginning to sink below the mountain peaks in the horizon, she was anxious to reach the next one. 

With only a pinkish glow left in the sky, and the path beginning to turn dark shades of grey, Morgan finally reached the next cabin. With a relieved exhale of warm breath a long blink of chilled eyelids, Morgan quickly entered the cabin. As expected, no other travellers or soldiers were currently occupying the cabin. Morgan set her bag by one of the wooden bed with a mattress of woven rope, and set to starting a fire. 

After a few flicks of flame licked up the dried wood and began to eat away at the logs, did Morgan finally take in her surroundings. The entire cabin was smaller than her bedroom closet back at the palace, and held a door on the south facing side and the fireplace on the north end. Four beds could be found, one at each wall, and they were of poor construction. The frames bore evidence of breakage in the slim bars of wood that overlapped the original frame to hold the original wood together after breaking. No mattresses sat atop the beds. Instead, finely woven rope was tied over the frames in a thin hammock. 

Morgan’s father would have a fit if he knew she was slumming in such a place, but it suited her needs for the time being. Besides, she was going to be gone the next morning anyway. 

After a day of walking in the snow, Morgan was exhausted, and the moment her head touched the mattress she was out. However, she couldn’t have been asleep for more than 2 hours, before a boisterous voice woke her. 

“Aha, a place of rest at last!” The voice claimed, waking Morgan.

As the door to the hut began to open she jumped up with her sword and prepared for a fight. Darkness must have set in over an hour ago, and anyone who was still able to find their way to the hut must be a resident. There had been accounts of travellers being robbed at night by the locals who could find their way even at night. Morgan refused to be robbed. 

However, the sight that appeared in the faint flickering of fire light stunned Morgan and prevented her from attacking. Standing in the doorway with a dumbfounded expression was Thor, the heir of Asgard and his adopted brother, Loki. Both were out of their princely garb and sporting travelling cloaks and well worn boots. 

“Thor!” Morgan cried out before realising that she wasn’t supposed to act as if she knew Thor and added, “Odinson, and Loki Odinson.”

“I am sorry, traveller,” Thor continued to project his voice in the small room, “I did not know that another was resting in this place of refuge. My brother and I required a place to rest, and I see room enough for us all.” 

“Uh, sure,” Morgan was at a loss for words. 

“Don’t mind my brother,” Loki finally spoke up, “We mean no harm. We’re just here to sleep. You can put down that sword of yours.”

“Right,” Morgan dumbly lowered the sword. Honestly, she’d forgotten that she was still pointing it at the brothers. 

After the sword was returned to its scabbard and leaned against the wall by her bag, Loki and Thor finally entered the cabin and shut the door behind them. Without a word, Thor and Loki moved to the fireplace. Thor placed more wood into the fire, and with a few words, Loki had the fire devouring the wood. 

With the much clearer light, Morgan shifted into her chosen bed. She hoped that they didn’t recognise her. While Thor had been a member of the Avengers, he hadn’t been around very much. He was much older than the other members, and floated from fight to fight. According to him, the dragons only the second opponent to ever defeat him. However, he never mentioned who the other opponent was. 

Still, Thor, and Loki since he trailed after his brother like trouble waiting to happen, had been around for her entire childhood. And, as a warrior, she regularly came to Asgard to train with some of the strongest warriors in current history. The Valkyrie were her favourite training partners. If she wasn’t a princess, and her father wouldn’t destroy the Earth if she ran away from home, Morgan would join the Valkyrie in an instant. 

There was no way they wouldn’t recognise Morgan. 

Hoping to distract them, now that the two were no longer focused on the fire, Morgan licked her lip and questioned, “So, what brings the princes of the realm here?” 

“An excellent question!” Thor cheered. Loki just sighed from where he stood, and placed his hands over his ears. “My brother and I have come to vanquish the frost giants who have created a stronghold along this path.”

“Wait, frost giants? Here?” Morgan had not expected to run into any frost giants. But if they attacked her, she’d make sure they remembered Princess Morgan Stark, the Steel Shadow. 

“Yes. It is good that we ran into you here,” Thor continued in his absurdly loud tone, “We will clear your path of frost giants.” 

“Let me help you,” Morgan insisted, “I am skilled with my swords.”

“I am sure you are,” Thor agreed in his most patronizing voice that drove her father crazy, “But my brother and I are even more prepared for these sorts of things.”

“Silence, Thor,” Loki’s words were much quieter than his brothers, but were hissed out with almost malice. Thor followed Loki dutifully and zipped his lips. Even though Loki’s piercing glare was worrisome, Morgan was grateful for the silence. After a few moments of inspecting Morgan, Loki asked a question that was really more a statement, “You’re Stark’s daughter, the Steel Shadow.” 

Caught. By Loki at least. Thor hadn’t not realised as his face bulged like a pufferfish. Not wanting to lie, and have Loki and Thor approach her no doubt frantic father, Morgan admitted the truth, “Yeah, I’m Morgan Stark. What of it?”

Now a sly smile appeared on Loki’s face as he innocently asked, “Does your father know where you are, young princess?”

Two for two. Loki wasn’t known as the god of mischief for nothing. You just can’t hide anything from him can you? 

“Don’t tell my father,” Morgan bit out, “He can’t know what I’m doing.”

“And just what are you doing, young Stark?” Thor’s loud voice boomed out.

“Don’t freak out,” Morgan warned before continuing, “I’m going to the Dragon forest to free my brother.” 

“That is a noble task, indeed,” Thor agreed, “However, I must inform Anthony of your journey.” 

“No you won’t,” Loki told his brother before turning to her. An almost pensive look crossed his face as he began to talk once more, “I never thought your father would tell you about your brother. I’m assuming he never did.”

“That’s right,” Morgan told Loki, “I figured it out when I was 6. I’ve been training for years for this moment.” 

“That does explain the constant training,” Loki muttered as realisation crossed his face. He nodded once and informed Morgan, “I owe your brother a debt, and for some reason I think you will succeed. Thor won’t tell your father. I promise you this on your brother’s name.” 

Morgan didn’t actually know her brother’s name, but she accepting Loki’s word. Thor looked as if he wanted to argue with his brother, but a single warning finger from Loki made Thor change his mind. With that the three settled in for the night. 

Before she knew it, the sound of ruffling shoes woke her. From under the door, light broke into the now dark cabin. The fire was now only a few smouldering embers, that only revealed their light when blown on. However, unlike her sojourn through the woods, no sounds of wildlife was present. No bird songs, or the noise of scampering squirrels. 

Thor and Loki had already woken and were currently consuming a dull breakfast of dried meat and fruit in a meditative silence. Their eyes locked onto her shifting form as Morgan reached for her own meager breakfast of nuts and more dried meat. Silent still, Thor extended an arm with what look to be raisins and prunes. Morgan gratefully accepted the fruit and left some of her nuts in return. 

After they finished eating, Morgan turned her back as the two men changed into ensembles more fit for Frost Giant fighting. Luckily, after they finished changing, Thor and Loki exited the cabin, letting Morgan change in peace. While Morgan layered multiple shirts and breeches, she also made sure to place her armour on top and to strap her dual swords to her hip. 

Once she was satisfied with her outfit, Morgan exited the cabin, and the three began walking along the path towards the Frost Giant hideout. Thor, as a massive man, took up the entire width of the trail all on his own, and so Thor led, while Loki and Morgan trailed behind, shoulder to shoulder. 

As they walked, Morgan observed the two men. Thor charged forward without a single look back. Every step oozed confidence and he reminded Morgan of a lion, assured of their tertiary predator position. Loki, on the other hand, weight his every step as if expecting the padded down path to suddenly give way. In comparison, Morgan was probably a cross between the two. She had all of Thor’s confidence, but none of his swagger, and tended towards a slight more caution and strategy as Loki. Morgan’s superior sword skills couldn’t save her from a poisoned arrow, or a booby trap. 

As a Stark, Morgan couldn’t stand silence for long periods of time. According to her mother, Morgan was better with silence than her father, but still these long periods of silence were excruciating. With nothing better to do, Morgan’s mind replayed Loki’s words over and over again. Loki owed her brother a debt, but for what? A million possibilities sprung to mind, but none powerful enough for Loki to forbid his brother from action. Unless, of course, Loki just felt like messing with his brother. Morgan never could tell. 

Having not come to a conclusion, Morgan gave up and asked Loki, “So, what debt do you owe my brother?” 

Loki glanced at her over his shoulder before replying with a huff, that was in juxtaposition with the faint smile that graced his lips, “He saved my life once.”

“How,” Morgan instantly replied almost cutting into Loki’s words, “He wasn’t a fighter. Not like me.” At least, that’s what Morgan understood. From stories, she’d worked out that her brother had been an inventor, and absolutely loathed violence. 

“No,” Loki remarked, “He really wasn’t anything like you. I suspect you, Princess Morgan, have the opposite mix of your parents personalities than him.” 

“Are you saying that I’m a horrible person?” Morgan snapped, “I’d choose your next words carefully.” 

“You have your father’s anger, child.” Thor boomed from his place ahead of them, “The elder Starkson was a much calmer fellow. His anger boiled like your mother’s. Aye, I’ve only ever seen him truly angry once.” 

“A very important once,” Loki added almost gleefully. 

And Morgan’s curiosity overwhelmed her anger. She met Loki’s eyes with a determined set of the mouth and asked, “What happened then?”

“Hmm,” Loki started, “It just so happens that my debt coincides with his anger.” 

“That is correct,” Thor nodded emphatically in agreement, “If not for the Starkson, we’d have beheaded you.” 

Loki desired to add another comment, but the sight of Morgan tapping her right foot while fingering her elegant steel sword made him change his mind. Instead he continued with the story, “20 odd years ago, I left Asgard in a journey of self exploration.”

“Because he learnt of his Frost Giant heritage.” Thor added. 

“Yes, and for nearly 2 years I traveled much of Midgard when I ran into Thanos.”

“Wait,” Morgan actually halted her movement as she called out, “The same Thanos who stole my brother?”

“Aye, the very same,” Thor nodded, “T’was the reason both my brother and I invested so much in the saving of the young Starkson. That and we owed him a great debt.” 

“The bruised potato has been making trouble for that long? What did he want?” Morgan demanded. 

Loki scoffed as Morgan’s description before continuing, “Thanos brainwashed me with the mind stone before sending me to find the space stone, a valuable artifact that Asgard and York were sharing to spark innovation and creations.” 

“Your father and I gathered who would become the Avengers to defeat my brother,” Thor continued, “After his defeat, Asgard sentenced him to death for treason against the crown. I am ashamed to admit that even I believed that Loki had attempted such a task of his own volition.” 

“It was your brother who saved me,” Loki admitted with a look of almost reverence, “He was the one who discovered traces of magic similar to the space stone in my septor. He brought it before the Allfather and made a case that saved my life. After that, he destroyed the soul stone so no one could ever be brainwashed again.”

“Yes,” Thor turned to face them with a million volt smile, “Although your brother wasn’t a warrior like you or I, he used his brilliant mind to save others in his own way. A true hero.” 

“He saw a goodness in me, that even I didn’t see,” Loki whispered, his head bowed. And that was that. For what could anyone say in face of Loki’s revelation. 

After that, Loki spent a few moments composing himself, before walking forward, kicking Thor lightly and telling him, “Let's get a move on. I want to reach these Frost Giants some time today.” 

And with that they continued their journey. After only a few minutes, Morgan was already bored of silence. Sure, she’d been on her own for most of her journey, but that didn’t mean that she’d been quiet. As the daughter of Tony Stark, could you really expect anything else? Unless she was fighting, a constant stream of chatter followed the young Stark. It drove her mother crazy, while her father would simply meet her quip for quip. 

However, just as she opened her mouth to made a Stark like comment, Thor threw his large, right arm out to the side, motioning the Morgan and Loki to stop. 

Of course they didn’t. 

Instead, Loki strolled over to Thor’s left side with a swagger that told of experience and confidence. Morgan skipped over to Thor’s right arm to peer over his arm. She even placed her two hands on his arm and did a chin-up so that she could actually look over his arm. (Sometimes being small had its disadvantages.) Thor simply sighed at their antics and with his left arm, the one Morgan wasn’t currently clinging to, he pointed to the right of the path. 

Morgan followed the man’s pointing finger to peer at a slight mound of snow. While, Morgan had an inkling at what the snow pile was, she decided to have a little fun as she informed Thor, “I know that jumping into snow drifts is a thing, but we’re kinda on a mission, Thor.” 

“Look, Stark daughter,” Thor boomed, and both she and Loki were quick to shush him. 

Once Thor was no longer threatening to speak, Loki took over his explanation, “That’s a Frost Giant hut. We should expect around 5 to 8 Frost Giants. Thor, go distract the giants with your pigheadedness while princess York and I finish them off.”

Morgan nodded once at Loki’s plan and laid her backpack onto the trail. It landed with a clunk and for a moment Morgan worried that it would sink below the snow. However, after a few moments of her backpack still being visible, she slipped her twin swords out of their scabbards, testing their weight and preparing for the fight ahead. 

Thor was in no way subtle. With a large grin, he readjusted his grip on Mjolnir and charged the Frost Giants with a deafening battle cry. 

At the sound of Thor’s cry, a few Frost Giant sentries turned towards the noise, to find themselves confronting Mjolnir and the furry of Thor’s might. As Thor defeated one of the Frost Giants, the other sentry let out a distinct cry in two short bursts. Before long a hoard of Giants were leaping out of the snow hut with weapons drawn. They quickly surrounded Thor, their entire attention on the god. None of them had noticed Morgan or Loki who trailed behind the roaring god. 

Once the snow hut had completely emptied of Giants and their entire focus consisted of Thor, Loki nodded once at Morgan and the two sprung into action. Like twin ballet dancers they pranced around the throng of Frost Giants, as the slaughtered one after another with nettle like precision. Best of all, the enraged Frost Giants never noticed as their comrades fell, too focused on Thor. Plus Loki and Morgan were selective in their targets and killed in a spiral pattern, killing those on the outside and working their way in. 

For once, Morgan’s mouth and mind were silent. When the blades emerged, and Morgan had a mission, she could exhibit total discipline. She was a shadow of death as her larger sword aimed for the heart with the shorter sword slicing into the Frost Giants’ delicate arteries in their necks. Once one target was eliminated, Morgan vanished to her next victim. The only sign of her presence: the large corpse and the deep blue liquid splattered on the ground. 

The few Giants that did notice her presence attempted to fight back, but they didn’t stand a chance against Morgan. A few swished and feints of her blades and the Giants became confused, allowing Morgan to plunge both swords into their chest cavities. A dead Frost Giant was all that remained of any encounter with Morgan: the steel shadow. 

From out of the corner of her eye, Morgan was vaguely aware of both Loki and Thor. 

Loki, like Morgan, weaved skillfully behind the Frost Giants, as his iconic knives dealt deadly blows on the Giants’ bodies. However, unlike Morgan, Loki didn’t always aim for the same location. Instead he’d mix it up by inflicting both instant death blows, and targeting vital organs. Typically, the vital organ blows caused the Frost Giant to attack Loki in rage, only to discover a projection of the god remained. 

Throughout the entire fight both Morgan and Loki were silent as the snowflakes that had begun to fall around them. Thor, on the other hand, was loud. Booming laughter and taunts soared through the air and assaulted both the Frost Giants and Loki and Morgan’s ears all the same. However, Thor’s joyous burst of emotion was back up by his skill. Even though all the Frost Giants were aiming for the god, he managed to deflect their blows and inflict his own back. Even when a hit landed, Thor typically managed to at least decrease the strength. He’d then let out a peel of laughter before pounding the Giant’s head in. 

Before too long Thor stood in the centre of a circle of Frost Giant Corps. Morgan and Loki linger to one side. Everything around them was splattered in blue blood, even Morgan herself. However, despite the blood splattered clothes, Morgan still wiped her blades off on her shirt before returning them to their scabbards. They slid in with a distinctly wet sound and Morgan signed, knowing that she’d have to properly clean her swords again soon. (and probably her scabbords too.)

Loki, too, seemed disgusted by the blood, but unlike Morgan, he’d actually managed to keep himself blood free. And for that, Morgan was envious of the man. 

Thor shared Morgan’s blue splattered appearance, but he wasn’t the least concerned. Instead he let out another boisterous laugh and cheered, “The Frost Giants have been defeated! Excellent work, Stark daughter.” 

The last words were emphasised with a hard slap on Morgan’s back. 

“Thanks,” Morgan commented, “Nice to know when I’m appreciated.” 

Thor either didn’t noticed the dryness of Morgan’s words, or was used to ignoring them from her father’s habits. “We must return to Valhalla and feast in celebration of our noble accomplishment!” 

“Shut your trap,” Loki snapped at Thor as Morgan replied, 

“Yeah, how about no.”

Thor deflated at their words and Morgan quickly continued in an attempt to reassure him, “I don’t have time. My mission is of the utmost importance.” 

Despite the still saddened cast in Thor’s eyes, he nodded, “That’s true, young Stark daughter. You have your own quest to finish still. We will feast when your brother is free.” 

“Of course,” Morgan nodded, grateful that someone had complete faith in her ability to save her brother. 

“Then I believe that this is where we part ways,” Loki added as he turned to walk back the way the trio had come. However, after turning around, he paused and added over his shoulder, “I wish you the best of luck in your mission.”

“Indeed,” Thor cheered, “Only warm skies and victory remain in your path!” 

A small smile graced Morgan’s lips as she plucked her backpack from the snow and hopped to her rightful path. “Only victory,” she agreed and with that the three went their separate ways. 

A few days after splitting off from Loki and Thor, Morgan finally left the mountain range and snow behind. She was immensely glad to have left the terrible cold in favour for the quickly increasing heat. Finally, the perpetual chill that had reached her core began to thaw. 

And with the change in weather came a change in scenery. Prime farmland dotted the land as Morgan reached the more temperate areas of Asgard. Now, the snow stamped path melted away into gentle dirt roads that branched off like bushes to various farms, local municipality and larger cities. Now, the sides of the road blossomed with tulips, and daffodils and the yellow and white heads of dandelions. The sounds of animals also echoed through the area as birds flew overhead, and at night wolf packs howled at the moon. 

The land beneath the snowy mountains were in brilliant spring. 

Along with the beautiful greenery came a spring of people. Now, villagers too traversed the roads as they ventured from their farms with horse wagons full of produce, or empty as they returned from a successful market. Off the roads, children ran through fields, their parents out of sight and probably not worrying about their children until night. 

Young boys and girls play fighting with sticks and plucking flowers from the side of the road. At one point, a young girl even approached Morgan and set a flower crown on her head. Morgan wore the crown for days until the flowers wilted too badly. 

However, with the presence of people, Morgan had a greater chance of being recognised. And she couldn’t walk during the night here since she was unfamiliar with the roads and nights in Asgard were eerily dark. Morgan couldn’t even make out the carvings in the wood signs, and the few stars in the sky were different than those in York. (Not that she was any good at navigating with stars. The few times that her uncle Rhodey had tried to teach her, she’d ended up getting them hopelessly lost, and worrying her father.) 

So, Morgan resigned herself to walk during the day like any other traveller in Asgard. It was probably less suspicious this way. There was no place she could hide during the day to sleep that the children wouldn’t find her. The little meneces were everywhere and they were huge blabber mouths. 

Instead, Morgan pulled out her thinnest cloak and wrapped herself within its depths with the cowl pulled high over her head, shadowing her features. While her identity was kept hidden, the dark coloured fabric of the cloak heated up under the sun’s light and scorched her skin. And then, she knew the villagers questioned her clothing choice. 

They worried that her appearance was a dark omen, and some warned their children to avoid the cloaked traveller. The children were intrigued by Morgan’s outfit. They didn’t understand why someone would wear warm clothes in the heat. However, when they asked, Morgan would tell them that she had a secret identity, and the children really enjoyed the mystery of her story. 

And it wasn’t like she was lying. She didn’t want her father to know about her whereabouts. 

After a few days, Morgan reached the Asgard-Wakandan border. The dirt roads expanded into separated lanes for transportation, and the dirt transformed into pavement that used a substance other than the tar used in York. The road most likely used vibranium technology, that Wakanda is famous for. 

However, the majestic roads funnel towards the Wakandan border patrol that monitors every person who wished to enter or exit Wakanda. Mostly they just checked for reason to enter the country and made sure that the travellers weren’t bringing any foreign or illegal substances into Wakanda. 

Wakanda used to be the most closed off country. One that prevented just about every traveller from entering its territory without permission for their king. But, in the last 17 years the country has changed their policies. With the era of a new king in Wakanda, the country had begun trading more and more with other countries and in particular with York. 

Morgan’s father and King T’Challa were good friends, and her father had great respect T’Challa’s sister, Shuri. Morgan had never met either of them, too busy with her training, but they’d recognise her at the Wakandan gates and immediately sent word to her father. Because of course, the guards still had to identify any travellers entering Wakanda. 

Without any ideas of how to sneak past the Wakandan border, Morgan slunk off to an inn on the Asgardian side of the border. Hopefully someone there might know how to travel through Wakanda without being identified, or maybe she could join a caravan and sneak through as a worker. 

She just needed to find her way through the border.

Morgan didn’t really want to go around Wakanda. Surrounding the large country were a series of independent city states: some more lawless than others. Sakaar was known for kidnapping travellers and forcing the travellers to fight in their arenas. Slavery was also huge in that city state. While Morgan knew she’d dominate the arena, she had neither the time nor the patience to deal with the people. Also, her father might just decimate the country if he found out she’d been turned into a gladiator slave.

On second thought, maybe after rescuing her brother, she should let Sakaar capture her. 

But worse still was SHIELD. While the city state was smaller than most, it housed the top spies in all the land. The entire city states was an almost militant organisation that gather intelligence from all other countries and city states. The country then worked with the different places to better their countries and warn then of opposing threats. Of course, the other countries had to pay first. 

While some people might be able to pass through SHIELD or travel around the city state with little to no hindrance, Morgan knew not to expect a similar treatment. Her father and Nick Fury, the leader of SHIELD, had worked together on multiple occasions, and, in fact, it was Fury who informed her father of her brother’s location. 

Furthermore, both Natasha Romanov, and Clint Barton, two of SHIELD’s top agents, were once members of the Avengers and close family friends. Natasha and Clint had trained Morgan since she was 6 formally, and had been helping her complete basic training since she was 4. There was no way those two wouldn’t recognise her and send her home to her father. 

She absolutely could not get close to SHIELD. 

Hence the inn. The inn itself wasn’t an absolute filth pool, but it was close. The building itself was short, Morgan had to duck to pass through the door, but sturdy. After the miniature door, the roof of the building opened up and allowed her to straighten up. The entrance, at least, appeared as if someone had tried to clean the decades of slime and grit from the cold stone floor and brick walls. 

Straight across from the entrance was a desk where a man with a pear shaped head and patchy hair sat as he typed, one finger at a time, into an ancient computer. To his right and left laid hallways that no doubt lead to rooms just as gross as the main lobby. However, Morgan was after the door behind the man that she knew lead to the bar. 

All inns had bars, even the ones without alcohol licenses. Those ones just hid their bars a little better, and the people found in those bars where no doubt at least on the line of the law. 

Morgan approached Pear-head, and with a faked arrogance asked, “Where can someone find a game of dice around these parts?” 

Instantly, Pear-head’s eyes opened wide and stared at her a little questioningly. He was probably taken aback by Morgan’s youth. Most suspicious people were even more suspicious of youngsters poking around the illegal. He tried to downplay his worry by laughing a stilited laugh and with a wobbly voice asked, “Dice? I don’t know no where someone can play a game o’ dice.” 

Morgan hummed in a way that said a lot about what she thought of his sentence before she pulled out a single gold piece. Pear-head’s eyes followed the gold as if in a trance. Morgan asked again, changing her question slightly, “How many chips will this get me?” 

5 minutes later, Morgan went through the door behind Pear-head’s desk with a large stack of chips and a pair of dice. 

If possible, the room on the other side of the door was even worse off than the main inn. The room was dim, no windows in sight, and lighted by just a few low power lights that hang one in each corner. Across the room sat a dingy bar that served drinks through a few women, dressed in dresses that barely hid their cleavage, and didn’t even reach mid-thigh. The women served drinks to rough looking men that sat in groups of three or four a table. Tables were scattered throughout the room, just close enough to one another that a man seated at one table could accidentally elbow a man at the table beside his. 

Some of the tables were set up to house dice like the ones currently in Morgan’s possession, but other tables were covered in cards as the men played a game that Morgan knew too well. A game much easier to win than dice, which relied on too much luck and cheating for Morgan to ever really want to participate. 

Instead, Morgan ditched the dice in an overflowing trash can and approached a table of three card players. One of the players was obviously not very good at cards and seemed very vocal. Morgan smirked. She could definitely exploit him. 

Morgan pulled up a chair and sat down, “Deal me in the next hand.”

None of the men responded, but when the round finished, they dealt out cards to her as she placed her chips on the table. 

They played in silence for a while. Morgan didn’t do overly poorly, but neither did she exceptionally well. That was by design. She needed to fit in. and not stand out as someone who could be exploited, or someone to be nervous around. She could play the waiting game for the losing-man to fail out. 

And he wasn’t doing well. Match after match he continued to lose money and as he lost, the man became more and more frustrated. Finally he no longer had any chips left, but instead of accepting his defeat, the man cried out “One more chance. Give me one more chance.”

Morgan and the man to her left eyed losing-man carefully. They both wanted something, and they’d finally made losing-man desperate enough to cave. The man to her right shook his head and left the table with his winnings. Losing-man noticed Morgan and the cloaked man to her left’s reluctance to leave and plead with them once more, “I’ll give anything!” 

“Anything, you say,” The cloaked man poked, “And by anything, you mean anything.”

“Yes, of course,” The man said, “Anything.”

“In that case: why not?” The cloaked man said carelessly, but Morgan knew that the cloaked man had deliberately pushed the losing-man into a corner.

However, Morgan too wanted losing-man in this position, “I’m in too.”

And this was the final match. Cards were dealt and unfortunately, Morgan didn't get the hand she wanted, but she’d make do with what she had. With confidence, Morgan pushed forward all her winnings and waited for the others to make their choice. 

The cloaked man also pushed all his winnings in. 

The losing-man glanced between the two and licked his lips. His eyes swept back and forth from Morgan to the cloaked man and back again. Seconds passed. Then minutes, and eventually he folded. 

Morgan looked at the cloaked man and asked as she jerked a thumb towards the losing-man, “Winner gets his thing.”

“Works for me,” Cloaked man called out. 

“H-hey!” The man called out, “I folded!”

“You said you’d give anything to play another round. Even after folding, you still have to uphold your word.” Morgan informed him

Cloaked man added, “And if you break your word, I’ll introduce you to my little friend called my gun.” 

That shut losing-man up.

They then revealed their cards and Morgan won. Losing-man’s jaw fell when he saw their cards. He would have won, had he not been scared by the large sums of money the two offered. 

Morgan glanced between the two men before making up her mind. The cloaked man would make a better comrade than losing-man. Morgan glanced at the cloaked man and made an offer, “You take what you want from loser over there, and then you owe me a simple favour.” 

“You got yourself a deal, missey,” Cloaked man said as he stuck out his hand to shake. Morgan accepted the hand with a smile. 

Cloaked man then turned to losing-man and demanded, “Give me yer left foot.” 

What?

Apparently losing-man was just as confused as Morgan. With a shaking voice he asked, “You want my foot?”

“Well, more like yer entire metal leg.” Cloaked man said as he held out his paw? “C’mon man, I don’t have all day!”

“Okay, okay!” The man shouted as he bent down to unattach a metal leg. Something that Morgan hadn’t even noticed. 

Once the metal leg was in the cloaked man’s paw, he collected his chips and hopped off his chair. 

At that moment, Morgan realised how short the cloaked man really was. He probably reached about her hip. As she stood up with her chips, Morgan could confirm that he was indeed only half her height. 

“Follow me,” the cloaked man told Morgan before he scampered out of the gambling room. Morgan had to hurry not to lose him. 

The two exited the room and traded their chips back in for money. Morgan grimaced when the money returned was significantly less than she’d given, even though she currently possessed quite a few more chips. But she didn’t say anything since she’d expected this when she first showed up. 

The two then left the inn and Morgan followed the cloaked man into the forest just off the main trail. After a little bit of walking, they arrived at a campsite. 

The campsite was more a place without trees than anything else. Ferns and other low growing plants still infested the ground, save where a circle of stones created a fire pit. A tarp covered a portion of the ground where 4 sleeping places were made up. 

“Find a seat,” The cloaked man called out, “The idiots will be back soon.” 

And then, the cloaked man took his cloak off. And it wasn’t a man wearing the cloak. Instead, a racoon shaped being appeared from the cloak’s depths. An upright, talking, clothing wearing racoon. 

“Okay,” Morgan said trying to organise her thoughts, “A talking racoon. Sure. I’ve seen weirder things before. But really, why a racoon?” 

“I’m not a racoon!” The racoon-man cried out before composing himself, “The name’s Rocket. So, what kinda favour did ya need?”

“Nice to meet you Rocket,” Morgan told him in her most courteous tone, “You’re going to help me get into Wakanda.” 

“Wakanda?” Rocket cried out, “why’d you want to go there!?”

“Well,” Morgan started before she was cut off.

“Who wants to get into Wakanda?” A voice asked from the forest.

Morgan turned to see a group of people emerge from the trees. The one who’d spoken was a man not much younger than her father. Maybe 10 years younger. Accompanying him was a green skinned man who was not only ripped, but also strode in cockily, an insect like woman who crept forward like a praying mantis, and a walking tree. 

Rocket turned, his tail shifting slightly in annoyance, and told the first man, “Just some girl I promised to help out in return for this guys metal leg.” 

“Again!” The leader-man exclaimed, “Rocket, you promised to get this girl into Wakanda for a metal leg!” 

“No,” Rocket said, matter of fact, “I agreed to any favour in return for the metal leg.” 

Leader-man exhaled loudly while the other two humanoids bursted into laughter.

“That is hilarious!” The buff-guy cried out. 

“So funny!” Insect -girl agreed. 

“I am groot,” The Tree said because why not. Of course trees can talk. 

“Yeah, so,” Morgan started as she gestured to the metal leg in Rocket’s paws, “Do you need the leg for something? The joints are probably pretty useful.” 

“Nah,” Rocket dismissed before also laughing in cruel snorts, “But isn’t it funny to think about him hopping around on one leg.” 

“That’s a fake laugh,” Morgan pointed out to Rocket’s very short sounding laughter.

“Thank you,” Leader-man said as if no one else had every pointed it out, “It’s so fake.” 

“You’re wrong,” Rocket held out, “It’s a very real laugh. My real laugh.” 

At that, Leader-man and Rocket began to argue. Their argument started on weather or not Rocket’s fake laugh was his real laugh, and moved to insulting each other. Their insults were vicious, and Morgan wondered if they were really friends. 

The other three paid no attention to the bickering (more like full blown arguing) and moved to start a fire. Morgan helped Buff-guy with setting up the fire and placing the wood in a typical log house format. Insect-girl brought a pot of water to balance atop the stone outsides of the fire pit, above the fire. The tree procured vegetables that Buff-guy chopped up with two large daggers and set into the pot. The same happened with unidentifiable meat. 

As the food set to cook, Morgan returned to Rocket and Leader-man who were still arguing. With a deliberate cough, Morgan drew their attention to ask, “So, can you get me into Wakanda, without having to be identified?”

“Of course we can!” Leader-man proclaimed, “We’re The Guardians of the Galaxy!” 

“Who?” Morgan inquired. She’d never heard of The Guardians of the Galaxy. 

“You know,” Leader-man explained, “The Guardians of the Galaxy. The people who prevented Ronin from destroying Nova?” 

At that Morgan remembered the tale. She’d grown up with the legends of Thanos and Ronin and the Power stone was a stable in Thanos lore. Morgan loved hearing about the misfits and mercenaries who banded together to form a team that protect the city states to the west of Wakanda. However, the band was missing Morgan’s favourite character. All the stories told of a female assassin, and insect girl didn’t hold herself like a fighter would. 

When Morgan voiced her thoughts the entire group sobered as if Morgan had informed them of terrible news. 

“We did have another fighter,” Rocket started, “She was an amazing assassin. But one day Thanos appeared. Apparently we’d made his mad with the Ronin stunt, and he wanted to take his revenge. Instead of killing us, he kidnapped Gamora and told her away. We’ve been searching for her ever since, but we haven’t found her. She was taken some 13 years ago-”

“15,” Leader-man interrupted Rocket, his eyes an angry red, “That purple chined bastard took Gamora from us 15 and a half years ago.” 

“Right,” Rocket agreed, not wanting to fight. 

The group fell silent for a few tense minutes, before Morgan spoke up, “I know how you feel. My brother was taken by Thanos 16 years ago.” 

“Oh yeah?” Rocket hummed, “Whadid he want with yer brother?” 

“I don’t know,” Morgan whispered, “But I think I know where he is, and to find him I have to get through Wakanda.” 

“You’re on a quest to find your brother?” Leader-man asked. When Morgan nodded his mouth turned into a determined line. “We’ll help you out.”

“Thanks,” Morgan whispered. 

With that they all settled down for the night. They ate the meager soup and then turned to bed under the tarp as the sun set. 

The next day, Morgan woke to a taken down camp. She quickly readied herself before following The Guardians of the Galaxy onto the main road for a bit then into the forest. They pushed through the underbrush and trees. They walked for till midday when the sun glared at them from its place in the sky as if condemning them for their actions. 

Finally, a few hours after the sun rose to its peak, they reached the borderline and the thin protective layer that surrounded Wakanda. The force field would repel anyone who tried to breach it. Only at designated gates could people pass through the force field. 

Rocket strolled up to the protective layer and pulled some tech out of the pouches on his suit. After fiddling with them for a bit, he laid them down on the ground and placed some on the force field itself. Morgan thought they looked vaguely like explosives. 

“Okay, kid,” Rocket said, “This is the end of the line. See these bombs I’ve set up. When I set them off they will interfere with the force fields pull and create an attraction. We’re going to head out so we don’t get caught in the blast and end up in over protected Wakanda. Here’s the remote to set off the charges. Give us a 10 minutes head start to escape the blast. After that, head north and you’ll find the main road. After that, you’re on your own, but if you want to owe me a favour, go we the Yorkshire bar and asked a man named Scarface for me. Then meet me back here three days after the message. Capiche?” 

“Yes, I got it,” Morgan assured Rocket, “Thanks for this.”

“No prob,” Rocket replied, “Just paying off my debt.”

“Good luck finding your brother,” leader-man told her, “If you find a woman named Gamora, tell her Peter Quill’s looking for her.” 

“I will,” Morgan agreed.

With that, The Guardians of the Galaxy made their leave. Morgan began to count. After the ragtag group had been gone for more than 10 minutes, Morgan pressed to remote. 

A deafening boom exploded from the bombs and created a strong wind that pushed Morgan away from the force fields. However, quickly after the explosion, a strong force began to suck Morgan towards the force field as if Wakanda was a great vacuum that Rocket’s bombs had punctured a hole in and in moments she was on the other side of the force field. When Morgan glanced behind her, she found that the force field was once again in full effect, no signs of the bombs’ destruction. 

The land around, however, didn’t match the impeccable force field. Grass on both sides of the force field were scorched away, leaving only dirt and ashes. Multiple trees had been blown away and now lay on the ground, overly singed. The entire forest had fallen apart in a kilometre radius and still the force field had only given way for milliseconds. 

Morgan scrambled to her feet and was relieved at her mostly unburned clothing. On her chest, her enchanted ruby stone warmed the skin around it as it twinkled dangerously. Morgan tapped the stone as she compartmentalised what she’d just witnessed. 

And that’s when it hit her. She had made it into Wakanda. She was so close to her brother.  _ So close _ .

With renewed motivation, Morgan followed Rocket’s words and headed north. 

As she walked, the landscape changed around her. The coniferous trees receded as the ground dried and crusted along with the constantly rising heat. Low growing trees replaced the tower conifers and the grass grew more and more coarse.

The growing heat made Morgan sweat, and her water supply was slowly dwindling. Morgan worried that all her textbooks had lied and that Wakanda was actually a desert country instead of the oasis country she’d always heard stories about. Maybe Wakanda was actually an underground country that lived under the sand in cool caverns. 

Morgan had just run out of water and panicking slightly when she saw something green in the distance. As she approached, Morgan was gladdened to find that the green was a ring of trees. And the ring of trees extended further until she was surrounded by lush plant growth. 

Sounds jumbled her senses as birds chirped through the trees and larger animals brushed past plants. But over all the other sounds, Morgan could hear running water. Thirst forced her to follow the beckoning sounds of water until she reached a stream. 

The water was clear and seemed clean, so Morgan scooped some up in her waterskin. She’d boil it when she reached a rest point.

Once the ground erupted in greenery, Morgan had a much easier time with her travel. And after a few days of travel, she could finally see the sprawling capital of Wakanda. And after one more day of travel, she arrived at the city. 

Luckily, no guards patrolled the entrance to the city and Morgan was able to slip into the city with her cloak once again pulled up over her head. A couple of people gave her odd glances, probably wondering why she’d wear a cloak in the heat (most people wore very revealing clothing, mostly due to the heat). However, no one stopped her and she was able to wander through the amazing city. 

And what a truly spectacular city it was. Morgan could understand why her father enjoyed his visits to Wakanda. The Wakandans had mastered the marriage of technology and nature. While York’s major cities consisted mostly of steel and concrete, Wakanda had spirling towers that used the pre-existing trees and cliffs. In fact, the research facility that Morgan could see off in the distance, descended into the ground through an underground tunnel. 

Everywhere Morgan looked were sights of extraordinary architecture, but even better were the food stalls that spotted the walkways and caused delicious smells to waffle through the streets. At one point Morgan gave in to her stomach and purchased something to eat with her remaining gambling money. And the food was well worth the money.

It was delicious! Morgan had never had something quite like it before and she relished every bite. Maybe even a little too much. Let that be a lesson to someone. Never walk while eating delicious food. 

For as Morgan focused on the food in her mouth by tilting her head up and closing her eyes in bliss, she ran into someone. 

After the collision, Morgan’s eyes snapped open and zoomed in to the woman on the ground. She was a young woman with lovely chocolate eyes that were only a tad darker than her skin tone. Her black hair was woven into a large braid that broke into multiple smaller braids about halfway down her back. In the day’s light, her hair appeared glossy as it reflected light back into the eyes of anyone brave enough to gaze upon her. 

Only after taking in the woman did Morgan notice the books that had scattered across the ground by the woman’s side. Morgan immediately knelt down next to the woman and began collecting the books. 

“I’m so sorry!” Morgan cried out, her head lowered. 

“That’s quite all right,” the beautiful woman told Morgan as she righted herself and also began reaching for her fallen books. “Just remember to look where you are going next time.” 

“I will,” Morgan promised as she held out the books she’d collected for the woman to collect. 

“Thank you,” The woman said as she took the books in Morgan’s outstretched arms. As the woman took the books, Morgan’s cloak hood fell back and revealed Morgan’s face. When Morgan’s face was exposed, the woman spent a few moments staring at Morgan’s face, to the point that Morgan began feeling awkward. Finally, the woman asked, “Do I know you?” 

“No!” Morgan rushed out, “I mean, I’ve never seen you before in my life. I don’t even know your name. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to know your name! It’s just that you haven’t told me your name and I’ve never met you before. Right, you don’t know my name either. It’s Morgan, by the way.” 

A fond smile grace the woman’s lips as her eyes softened. She then told Morgan, “It’s nice to meet you Morgan. I am Shuri.” 

“Shuri!” Morgan cried out as dread filled her, “The princess of Wakanda!” 

“Yep!” Shuri cheered and Morgan paled. She didn’t want to be recognised by the princess of Wakanda. What luck she had! Get through the border unseen, only to be caught by the princess herself. 

Morgan could faint from fear. Princess Shuri had discovered her. But before Morgan could truly faint of fright, Shuri forced her over to stone steps that lead up to a store, and made her sit down. 

“There, there,” Shuri soothed, “Deep breaths, Morgan. I’m not mad at you. In fact, you reminded me of someone I used to know.” 

“Who?” Morgan asked before remembering her manners and praddling, “I mean, whom are you referring to, princess?” 

Shuri’s nose wrinkled at Morgan’s formal question as she told Morgan, “Call me Shuri. I don’t like that royal stuff.”

“Sorry,” Morgan apologize, “Who were you talking about, Shuri?” 

Shuri’s wistful smile returned as she reminisced, “You reminded me of my good friend, the prince of York.” 

“You knew the prince of York?” Morgan pressed. 

“Yes,” Shuri replied, “In fact, at one point we were even contemplating marriage.” 

“Marriage!?” 

“Yeah,” Shuri agreed as her left hand moved to twist a gold band on her right ring finger. “We weren’t in love or anything, but we were best friends and we loved each other like siblings. We thought about marriage as a way to create an eternal connection between our two countries. Of course, then Thanos took him and I married my wife.” 

“You married your wife after he was taken?” Morgan demanded. She didn’t want to sound mean, but come on! Who waited until your potential suitor and best friend was imprisoned by a mad man. 

“We didn’t marry right away,” Shuri defended as her hands moved to her eyes to wipe away a wetness. “In fact, my girlfriend proposed to me two years after he was taken, but I refused to marry her until he’d been missing for over 6 years. By then, I had to accept that he was either never coming back or wouldn’t be back for many years. And I don’t think that he’d be happy that I gave up my chance at marriage for the slim hope that he’d return.” 

“Oh,” Morgan hadn’t realised just how much the lose of her brother had affected people other than her parents. She had to remember that he’d had friends as well who would miss him. “I’m sorry about that.”

“It’s fine,” Shuri reassured Morgan, “You’ve said nothing that I have not asked myself.” 

“Can you tell me about him?” Morgan asked, “I’ve heard the tales about him, but you actually knew him. What was he like?” 

“He was everything the stories said and more,” Shuri said, “He was caring and giving and so, so smart. That was probably why we were so close. We were both royalty that had been blessed with extraordinary genius, and no one but him understood me. Even my wife doesn’t get me like he did. Whenever we were together something amazing we created. It was the two of us that created the synthetic vibranium armor that’s used across the world.” 

“He sounds amazing,” Morgan breathed. She was handing on Shuri’s every word. No one had ever told Morgan specifically what her brother was like. Sure his tale included broad character strokes, but all fairy tales tended to hyperbolate people's traits. It was nice to have someone’s first hand impressions of him. 

“He was,” Shuri agreed, “But he was also an idiot. I can’t count how many times his father or I had to rescue him from a burning laboratory. He was always causing explosions, or setting something on fire. I remember this one time he and his father visited and his father told me not to let him into the lab. He’d been banned after almost killing himself trying to experiment with electricity!” 

Morgan couldn’t help but giggle at Shuri’s stories, and luckily Shuri too joined Morgan. For some minutes, anyone who passed the shop would see two women clutching their stomachs as they laughed to some secret joke between the two. Shuri’s story hadn’t even been that funny, but for the sister and best friend of the long missing prince, there was something almost cathartic about laughing together over the long lost princes antics. 

When Morgan had finally caught her breath, she looked over at Shuri. The woman seemed to lose years of her life as she laughed over a boy who’d been gone more than half her life. It warmed Morgan’s heart to know that her brother had been so important to a woman so important and beautiful. She was so in love with the idea of her brother that she couldn’t help but slip out, “I wish I could have met him.” 

Shuri eyed her weirdly for a few moments before replying, “That’s right. You’re a little too young to have remembered a time when the Prince of York was something other than a folk tale. He would have liked you. I’ve never met a single person he didn’t like. It was like he was a spirit, completely free of any blemish in life.” 

“At least any personality blemish,” Morgan teased, “It sounds like he had a few habitual flaws.” 

“That’s true,” Shuri laughed before she focused on Morgan, “Are you feeling better now?” 

“Oh, um, yes,” Morgan answered as she scrambled to her feed, “I’m much better now, Shuri. I’m sorry for having kept you.” 

“No worried,” Shuri assured Morgan with a smile, “I’m glad to have been able to talk about my friend. My wife doesn’t like to talk about him.” 

“Why not?” The question was out of Morgan’s mouth before she realised how insensitive the question was. She quickly continued, “I’m sorry. That was mean of me.” 

“It’s fine,” Shuri told Morgan again. It felt like she was always reassuring Morgan for something she’d said. Why was she such a disaster at talking to pretty girls? “My wife was even closer to my friend than I. Then grew up together with their third friend. His disappearance really shook my wife up.” 

“Oh,” Morgan responded dumbly. She hadn’t even thought about her brother having friends from York, but they had to have existed, and Shuri’s wife was just an example of this. 

“Yeah,” Shuri responded as if she knew exactly the question in Morgan’s mind. After a few moments she too rose to her feet before picking up her pile of books, “Now, I really do have to go. My brother is expecting me soon. It was nice to meet you Morgan.” 

“It was nice to meet you too, Shuri!” Morgan called out as Shuri turned and made her way down the street in the way Morgan had previously come. 

Once Shuri was almost lost in the crowd, she looked back to smile at Morgan before telling her, “Good luck finding him, Morgan. Don’t worry, I won’t tell your father.” 

Morgan eyes widened. 

She knew. 

Shuri knew who Morgan was, and that she was trying to rescue her brother. 

In fact, Shuri was basically giving Morgan her blessing to find her brother and save him. 

Once Shuri had disappeared into the crowd, Morgan squared her shoulders with renewed determination. She would succeed in her quest. She couldn’t afford not to, especially after learning about the other people who missed him. He didn’t only have a family to return to, but friends who missed him dearly. He even had two friends who’d gotten married in his absence. 

She would rescue her brother, no matter the cost. 

And so, Morgan made her way out of the Wakandan city and continued North. The city faded into the trees before her, and she kept moving on. 

While the forest outside of Wakanda was filled with all sorts of animals and insects, at one point the sounds of all living beings other than herself disappeared. Morgan gazed around her in search of some sort of sound other than the wind rustling the trees, but there was nothing. No birds chirping or insects buzzing. 

Everything was eerily quiet. 

Not long after all the animals disappeared, Morgan came upon a hastily made sign. The sign was made of wood and in red paint said, ‘beware dragons. Turn back travellers.’ and above the words was a crud image of a dragon’s head. Morgan could see similar signs off in the distance. They dotted the path like trail markers, leading straight to the dragons. 

After a few days of nervous pacing due to the absence of noise, Morgan smiled. Finally. She was so close to reaching the dragons and saving her brother. She was on the right path. The dragons were just ahead. 

The evening, after she’d set up camp, Morgan pulled out her swords and ran through drills for hours. Closing her eyes, Morgan could picture the dragons, and she tried to imagine their attack patterns. She painted them quick and slippery opponents, much like her aunt Natasha and uncle Clint. 

Every day after, Morgan practised her sword skills in preparation for her final showdown. 

She  _ would _ defeat the dragons and save her brother. 

Four days after the crushing silence began, Morgan heard a noise. And it wasn’t the sound of wind in leaves, but the sound of another living creature.

Not one, but two creatures. And large ones at that. 

With the arrival of noise, Morgan slowed her breathing and bent down. She walked on the balls of her feet as she snuck closer to the sound. 

Closer.

And Closer.

And just a little Closer. 

Finally, Morgan could peer over the bush she was currently hiding behind and see the dragons. They stood in a smokey clearing and both were massive. Even curled up as the two dragons were, their bodies rose above young trees and reached about halfway up the soaring pines surrounding them. Wings, the size of boats, were furled around the bodies, as elegant heads slumbered beneath them. 

The dragon on the right was a brilliant blue with certain scales that shimmered gold under the light. The other dragon boasted the traditional green scales. Along the green dragons spine and the tips of its tail were iridescent dark pink scales. The two dragons were beautiful under the light of the afternoon sun, and for a moment Morgan didn’t even want to hurt them. 

Don’t be ridiculous, Morgan. These are the dragons that are holding your brother captive. Morgan thought to herself. She had to defeat these beasts and save her brother. 

In Morgan’s mind, killing the two dragons was the key to freeing her brother. 

She could not fail. 

Steeling herself, Morgan began to plan her attack. The dragons’ scales looked thick, and she’d read many stories on dragons. Typical swords wouldn’t be able to pierce the dragons’ scales, at least not the ones on their chest and back. 

While a common myth was that a dragon’s scales were weak around the chest and underside of the belly, Morgan had done enough reading to know that those myths were false. A dragon’s scales were thick just about everywhere except their wings, which they guarded with a fierce passion. And even the, the weak part was actually the membrane the spread between the scaled bones. 

The dragons would be difficult to injure, but Morgan had a plan. A plan that she’d been concocting since she was 6. A plan that spanned a course of 10 years. 

Her swords were typical swords. They were creating with vibranium cores that similar to Black Panther tech could absorb attacks and repel a greater force on a target. After absorbing a 100 kilostarks of force, Morgan could shatter even a 10 centimeters cubed block of vibranium. Surely the dragon’s scales couldn’t withhold more than pure vibranium. 

And that was the plan. Absorb enough force to land a hit on the dragons’ chests and shatter the scales. After that she just needed to pierce the dragons’ hearts and then bye bye dragons. 

Now she just needed to get the necessary force in her sword, and for that she’d need to awaken the dragons and let them land a few blows on her sword. 

But she also needed to make sure that the dragons didn’t land any hits on her. As a child, she had seen her father return home with his armour crushed from the dragons’ blows. And her father had used a super strong titanium alloy (or at least that’s what she thought it was. She wasn’t that good at the tech or science part!). Morgan’s armour didn’t hold a candle to her father’s, especially since she prioritised mobility over an armour’s protection. 

Gathering her courage, Morgan slipped her backpack off along with her cloak, revealing her armour plated clothing. She then unveiled her swords, one in each hand. After a calming breath, Morgan charged the dragons, letting out a ferocious battle cry as she went. 

The dragons, while asleep before, snapped awake at Morgan’s cry and they rose up in furry and fright. Once they located the sound, both dragons let out loud hisses at Morgan and prepared to fight. 

The green dragon was closer to Morgan, and when she was in range of the dragon’s tail, it swung its tail around in an arc towards Morgan’s head. She set up swords up above her head to block the blow, one sword bracing the other. Even with her twin swords absorbing the force of the blow, it still left Morgan staggering. Her knees bent under the force of the blow, and her arms strained to keep the swords above her head. 

And then the blue dragon rushed towards her. It lunged its horned head out in an attempt to rip off Morgan’s left leg. To avoid the attack, Morgan had to abandon the green dragon’s blow and tumbled to the right. Even then, she just avoided the blue dragon’s sharp teeth. 

The two dragons righted themselves, before beginning another attack. This time, the green dragon charged Morgan, and when Morgan dodged to the right, the dragon dug its left leg into the dirt to cause its tail to whip around at Morgan. Morgan tried to block the blow with her swords, but the dragon’s momentum caused Morgan to be flung into the air. 

Once Morgan was in the air, the blue dragon drew in oxygen before exhaling a breath of fire towards the airborn girl. Morgan could feel the heat coming for her, and she pulled out her ruby necklace and held it up to the oncoming fire. The fire was sucked into the ruby stone and unleashed into the air as harmless steam. 

Morgan landed on the ground into a roll, but the green dragon was ready for her. It’s mouth snapped at Morgan’s hands and a sharp, metallic clang filled the air as Morgan blocked the teeth with a swing of her swords. But while Morgan’s swords and attention were firmly on the green dragon, the blue dragon rammed its head into Morgan’s side and sent her airborne once more. 

A flurry of sounds and air movement alerted Morgan to the now flying green dragon who was charging her while in the air. Morgan had only one way to escape, and so with extreme reluctance, she used the force in her swords to blow the dragon away and help her land on the ground sooner. The moment she touched land, the blue dragon was already attacking her. 

And the battle continued. The two sides were fairly evenly matched with the two dragons against Morgan and all her charms and tricks. Anytime one side seemed to get an edge, the other side would reveal another hidden talent to trick that would reset the advantage. They fought fiercely, and they fought beautifully. They wove through each other and fought as if they’d been fighting each other for years. After a few hours, they could already anticipate the other’s moves and prepare to counterattack. 

And the battle lasted a long time. Hours passed, and the sun began to fall behind the trees and light the entire fight in a reddish glow that illuminated Morgan’s pale skin as if she was truly a blood soaked goddess clashing with two dragons. And then the sun set, and the battle field was illuminated by the glow of the moon and witnessed by millions of stars, galaxies away. 

However, as the moon began to set, Morgan’s endurance began to wane. Even her adrenaline spike was beginning to dwindle, and more and more of the dragons’ blows were connecting. Her dodges were less snappy, and her swords were less responsive to attacks. 

For the first time, Morgan actually began to worry that she’d lose. The dragons didn’t seem to worry about stamina. They still fought with all the strength and speed that she’d faced at the beginning of the fight. At that moment, their endurance appeared endless. 

And Morgan was bleeding. The two dragons had managed to get a few good attacks in and now Morgan had a fairly problematic wound in her left side, and she was favouring her right leg. Morgan was also fairly sure that her nose was probably broken, just based on how wrong it felt and the blood she constantly felt on her lips. 

However, in comparison, Morgan hadn’t been able to really wound the dragons. Sure they were missing a few scales here and there and the ground was littered in shattered pieces of scales. But no blood was leaking from any of the cuts on the dragons bodies. They still appeared just as majestic as they did when Morgan first saw them. 

By the time the moon had truly set, and the battle field was illuminated dimly by only the stars, Morgan had fallen to her knees before the dragons. Some of the fingers in her left hand were numb, and her left leg was coated in gashes, along with one large cut that ran all the way up her calf. Her left side was bleeding profusely, and her face was littered in cuts. 

But worse than the cuts, and the wounds, was the jelly feeling in her arms and legs, along with the heavy panting that rushed through her mouth. Her chest expanded almost painfully with each breath as if tried to maximize the oxygen intake. Her muscles burned with lactic acid, and her head pounded from dehydration even when her face felt sticky with sweat. 

Morgan bowed her head finally. She’d been defeated. She had failed. 

She couldn’t save her brother. 

And with that realisation, a heavy feeling replaced the heaving in her chest. Her entire life she’d been preparing for this moment. Every moment spent reading up on dragons, or searching far and wide for people to learn different sword styles from, or crouching over a map as she plotted her travel plans were for nothing. She wouldn’t be able to free her brother. 

She’d never be able to meet her brother. 

All of Morgan’s bluster was lost. Her arrogance long gone. She just wanted to meet him. The boy whose name she didn’t even know, but whom she still loved. Morgan wanted nothing more than to at least meet her brother. Even if only for a single moment. A single chance to hug him and tell him that she loved him. 

The dragons were now lunging for Morgan, and in one last, desperate attempt, Morgan cried out, “Please!” 

The dragons stopped. Morgan wasn’t sure if they understood her or were just reacting to the sound. But she didn’t care. Morgan kept talking, babbling really, as all her long hidden thoughts came pouring out.

“Please. Just let me past,” Morgan begged, “It’s my brother you’re holding hostage back there. I just want to see him, to meet him. You took him from my family the day I was born, and I never got to meet him. Please. He’d my brother. I won’t take him away from the forest. I just want a chance to talk to him, to tell him that I love him. I want to tell him about all the people I’ve met who also want to help him. I want to tell him that his two best friends got married and that they missed him. I want to tell him that our parents love him and miss him, and that we all wish he was with us. Or I could say nothing to him, but just see him. Please. I just want to see him.”

After that release, Morgan waited with her eyes closed for the dragon’s attack, but when none came, she lifted her head to find that the dragons had abandoned their attack position. In fact, they’d assumed a seated position, and were regarding her with something that Morgan couldn’t pinpoint. 

“I didn’t know he had a sister,” the green dragon hissed at the blue one. Morgan’s eyes widened in surprise. She didn’t know the dragons could talk. 

“Agreed,” The blue dragon hissed back. The two dragons gazed at Morgan once more. 

Once again, Morgan’s nerves caused her to say something, “I didn’t know you could talk!” 

“Yeah, no one does,” the blue dragon snorted, “We might be able to fight more intelligently than any human, but no one expects us to be able to talk.” 

“Then,” Morgan asked, “Do you have names?” 

That actually surprised the blue dragon. It looked surprised before answering in quite a raw voice, “Yes, actually. I am known as Nebula.” 

“And I am called Gamora,” the green dragon added. 

“Wait,” Morgan called out as the name rang a bell, “Gamora of the Guardians of the Galaxy?! Peter Quill’s Gamora?” 

The green dragon’s head pulled back in surprise as she snarled, “Where did you hear that name!” 

“I’m sorry,” Morgan cried, “I didn’t mean anything by it. I just met a group of people who called themselves the Guardians of the Galaxy. They asked me to keep an eye out for Gamora while I was on my travels.” 

“They’re alive?” Gamora inquired, “All of them?” 

“Uh, I think so,” Morgan answered awkwardly, “I mean, yes they are alive. And I think it’s all of them. There was Rocket, and Peter Quill, and a talking tree, and this insect girl along with this other guy who laughed a lot.” 

“That’s all of them,” Gamora breathed, “They’re alive. They’re all alive!” 

“I’m happy for you, Gamora,” Nebula told the other dragon. 

“So,” Morgan continued, curious, “Talking to the other Guardians, I was under the impression that you were a humanoid, and an enemy of Thanos. How did you end up working for the purple menace as a scaley guardian of my brother’s prison?” 

“The truth is,” Gamora told Morgan, “I don’t want to be here. Neither does Nebula. But after we, the Guardians, angered Thanos, he came for us. He took me from them and then he casted a curse on me to turn me into a dragon. His enchantments force me to stay here and guard your brother.”

“And what about you, Nebula,” Morgan questioned, “Are you here due to some twisted loyalty to Thanos?” 

“No,” Nebula gritted out, “I hate him. He made me a dragon and erased my memories. I don’t even know who I am!” 

“I’m sorry, “ Morgan whispered, “That’s horrible.” 

“Yes,” Nebula agreed before observing Morgan who was now doping from exhaustion, “Sleep child. Nothing will befall you while resting here. We’ll keep you safe.” 

Morgan barely managed to bite out a ‘thank you’ before she fell to the ground and to sleep. 

Morgan woke when the sun had already moved from the east to the west, and the air had been heated considerably from the sun’s heat. As she moved to right herself, she groaned at the stiffness in her muscles. As she looked up, she could see Nebula and Gamora conversing together on the other side of the clearing. 

As Morgan rose to her feet, the two dragons swung around to look at her. When they didn’t move, Morgan crawled her way to them. Even then they stood together silently as they traded looks.

“What?” Morgan asked, “Is there something wrong with my face? Did the blood give me acne? Please tell me it didn’t. I don’t have time to deal with acne right now. Especially on my face.” 

“No, that’s not it,” Gamora said after a heavy exchange of glances between her and Nebula, “Nebula and I were just discussing some things. We’ve decided to let you through to see your brother.” 

“Really!” Morgan shouted, “Thank you so much, Gamora, Nebula. This is amazing!” 

“Yes, yes,” Nebula muttered, “Don’t thank us too much. You still won’t be able to make him leave the tower.”

“The tower?” Morgan asked, “Why’s he in a tower?” 

“That’s his curse,” Nebula informed Morgan, “He’s trapped in this tower deep in the forest. He can’t leave it.” 

“Oh,” Morgan muttered as she thought through what Nebula just told her before brightening, “But if I break the curse then he’ll be free right?” 

“Sure,” Nebula told her, “But I’m not sure how to break the curse.” 

“I’ll figure something out!” Morgan chirped as she quickly swept up his backpack and cloak. Once she had all her possessions, she skipped towards the forest and called out, “Thank you so much, Nebula and Gamora!” 

“No problem,” Gamora told her with a smile before the smile diminished, “Just watch out. Deadpool just returned to the forest a few days ago.” 

That caused Morgan to stop in her tracks. Deadpool was the strongest warrior in history as he was also immortal. But while he was extremely skilled, he was also a little unhinged. No, he wasn’t a little unhinged. He was completely insane. Morgan had met him once, and she only escaped with her life because he ‘didn’t feel like killing anymore’. “What is Deadpool doing here?” 

Gamora sighed, “He likes it here. Something about the scenery being nice, and liking the peace and quiet. Nebula nad I tried to fight him the first few times her showed up, but he completely demolished us. Now we just let him by since no one else really goes into the forest.” 

“Right, watch out for Deadpool,” Morgan told herself before waving to the two dragons and striding into the forest. 

To Morgan’s surprise, the forest that Nebula and Gamora were guarding wasn’t any different than the forest she’d came from. Still no sounds of animals, but Morgan had become accustomed to the silence. The only real difference was the thickness of the trees. The forest floor was dark, and no matter how hard Morgan tried, she couldn’t see anything through the thick leaves of the trees. She couldn’t even determine when was day and when was night. 

Normally, Morgan wouldn’t be worried about not seeing the sky, but she actually really wanted to see above the trees. Peter’s tower was somewhere in the forest, but she didn’t know where, and with the zelous overgrowth of the trees, she couldn’t even make out signs of a tower rising up into the sky. Instead it was just an overlap of puffy leaves that made her hate the colour green. 

At one point, Morgan tried to climb the trees, but no matter how high she climbed the trees still soared further into the sky. Even after climbing some 100 meters up a tree, when Morgan looked up, she hadn’t appeared to have made any distance to the top of the tree. She began to suspect that Thanos, the evil eggplant, had enchanted the trees as well. 

However, Morgan had no idea what the dimensions of the forest were, and after what Morgan determined was a few days of walking, Morgan concluded that she was probably lost. But right when she was beginning to panic, she found a sort of trail. Now, it wasn’t really a trail, but in this forest, all the low growing plants had risen to full glory and hindered Morgan’s walking. The trail was just a series of squashed down growth. Something that Morgan hadn’t seen in her entire time in the forest. Even her own path was obscured from view as the greenery returned to its former position after she passed through. 

And so, feeling lucky for once, Morgan followed the trail, not really thinking about where it possibly could have come from. 

And Morgan regretted following the trail some two days later (at leats she thought it was two days, since she still felt an urge to sleep. But with her father being who he is, Morgan couldn’t really trust her circadian rhythm.) she ran into another guest of the forest. 

Morgan had no warning of the other traveller. No sounds of footsteps, or smells, or forgotten objects. 

Nothing. 

Until suddenly, Morgan felt an arm wrap around her middle. 

“Who’re you?” Morgan managed to ask, before a heavy blow landed on her head and she passed out. 

Morgan came too slowly. The first thing to break her into wakefulness was the pain. Her left arm hurt, worse than it had since she’d been injured by Gamora and Nebula. Morgan quickly determined that the hurt was coming from the awkward angle of her arm, but what she tried to change the angle, her arms were stopped by a rope wrapped around her wrists. 

After the first tug, she stopped trying. Instead, she slid her eyes open just by cracks to take in the space around her. As she let her eyes open, she found something red and black in front of her. Not understanding what she was seeing, Morgan opened her eyes more to get a close up of Deadpool’s mask.

Once Morgan’s eyes were all the way open, Deadpool let out a loud, “Boo!” 

Morgan jumped, but was stopped by the ropes around her wrists and, as she soon figured out, her legs. After jumping though, Morgan asked, “Deadpool?” 

“Ding, ding ding!” Deadpool cried out as he leaped to his feet, “Tis I! Your memorable merc with a mouth.” 

“But why?” Morgan spilled out, “Why’d d’you capture me?” 

“Oh, that,” Deadpool said blandly, as his cheer turned to razor coldness, “How did you get past the dragons? Did you kill them?”

“They let me past,” Morgan breathed as Deadpool held a knife to her throat, “I swear. Gamora and Nebula let me into the forest.” 

“Really?” Deadpool drew out, “Now I find that kinda hard to believe. Especially since they don’t let anybody past.” 

“They let you past.” Morgan whimpered. 

“That’s because they love me!” Deadpool chimed, “And I don’t think they’d ever let anyone else in unless they worked for Thanos. So tell me, what do you want with Peter? Tell me quickly before I rip your throat out and drop your body off at the entrance of the forest for Thanos to find.” 

“P-Peter?” Morgan coughed out. 

“Yes. Peter. Petey-pie. My precious Pete,” Deadpool continued to count off different nicknames, “Precious, protected Peter. The Peter Thanos locked in the tower.” 

Peter. Her brother’s name was Peter. Peter, Peter, Peter. 

Suddenly Morgan didn’t care about Deadpool’s threats, she just wanted to know more. And so, she let slip, “His name is Peter?” 

“You don’t get to say his name!” Deadpool roared, the knife back at Morgan’s throat in an instant. “Tell me why you’re here, right now, or Imma have a body and a head, and they won’t be connected no more!” 

“I have every right to say his name!” Morgan shouted back, “Because he’s my brother!” 

“Your brother?” Deadpool’s mask furled in confusion and the knife at Morgan’s throat slipped away again. “Petey never said anything about a sister.” 

“Well it’s true,” Morgan insisted, “I’ve been wanting to find him for years. Thanos took him when I was really, really little.” 

“Prove it,” Deadpool called out, almost defensively. 

“How am I supposed to prove it?” Morgan snapped, “What is this? An assembly of the royalty where everyone has a royal crest to show their country allegiance?” 

“I don’t know! That's just what they always say in the movies! ” Deadpool called out, “But how am I supposed to know if you’re lying. If you are, then I don’t want you anywhere near Petey Pie, but if you’re not, then Petey will be so mad at me for killing his sister!” 

“For what it’s worth,” Morgan told Deadpool, “Gamora and Nebula trust me.” 

“But they’re cursed by Thanos!” Deadpool cried, “They might be forced to tell verify your words!” 

“It appears we’re at an impasse then,” Morgan said, “You should just take me to my brother.” 

Deadpool didn’t answer for a while, but his hands jerked from left to right as his body tensed up. Finally, after coming to a decision, Deadpool called out, “Fine. But we’re doing this my way. And if you’re lying to me, then I’ll make you wish I’d killed you here.” 

Morgan gulped. Though childish, Deadpool was still very menacing. 

But this was the only way to see her brother. Peter. To see her brother, Peter. 

“Agreed,” Morgan said. 

“Okay, okay. How’re we gonna do this?” Deadpool mumbled to himself, “We get er tied up in a rope and drag her along like a wagon? But she’d hurt and if we hurt her more then Petey will be sad. Fine. We’ll do that.” 

Deadpool then moved to Morgan’s side and untied the rope around her arms and legs. However, immediately after, he moved Morgan’s arms so that they were positioned in front of her body and re-tied the rope. Another rope was then knotted around her two arms into a sort of lease. 

“C’mon,” Deadpool told her as he tugged on the rope and slung her backpack over his shoulder, “We have at least a 3 hour walk to the tower.” 

Morgan was silent for the rest of the walk, but Deadpool was not. He seemed perfectly happy to hum to himself and even go as far as to outright sing. Other times, he would talk to himself and Morgan was forced to listen to half of a conversation that Deadpool seemed to be having. And the topics tended to either be really ridiculous, or wildly inappropriate. She really wished he’d stop talking about her brother. 

There were some things Morgan never wanted to know about her brother. Some things a sister should never know about her brother. 

And then, finally, they reached the tower. The trees parted into a clearing where Morgan could actually feel the sun shining onto her face. And through her slowly adjusting eyes, Morgan saw the tower for the first time. It was nothing grand, really. Just a cylindrical stone tower that rose up above the trees. In fact, it seemed to be fashioned after the York castle’s many towers. 

However, despite the plainness of the tower, Morgan couldn’t stop the tears from falling down her face. This was were her brother lived. She was so close to seeing him. She was so happy. 

Deadpool glanced over at her to see her crying. His weight shifted from foot to foot before he commented, “I’ve never seen someone cry over a tower before.”

“Th-that that’s because I’ve finally reached my brother,” Morgan sniffled, “I’ve always wanted to get here, and now I am finally here.” 

“Huh, you’re right,” Deadpool said, “That doesn’t sound like something a spy would say. Dawh! Do think she really is Petey’s sister?” 

After a few moments, Deadpool wailed, “Oh no! You’re right. How could I have done something so awful to Petey’s sister!” 

Deadpool immediately rounded on Morgan and untied her wrists. As he did so, he continued to apologize excessively. Morgan pushed away his apology and instead asked him, “So, how do we get into the tower?”

Deadpool’s mask crinkled into a smile as she gleefully told her, “It’s like Rapunzel! We just need to climb to the top window!” 

“What window?” Morgan questioned.

“That one!” Deadpool pointed out. Morgan followed the mercenary’s finger to find a small opening some 200 metre up. 

Morgan frowned. The stones would make for extremely difficult climbing. And a fall from that high up would kill her instantly. “How do you propose we get up there?” 

But Deadpool wasn’t listening to her. Instead to rushed to stand beside the tower and yell at the top of his lungs, “Petey-pie! I’m back! Let down your wonderful hair for me!” 

For a few moments, Morgan thought Deadpool must have lost it, but then something was thrown out of the window and as it fell further and further, Morgan realised that the rope like substance was really more of a webbing. Deadpool jumped for joy when the webbing reached the ground. He created a foothold and just before he stepped into it, he grabbed Morgan by the waist and pulled her tightly to his body. 

“Now for the Spidey-elevator!” Deadpool cried, “Going up!” 

“Wait,” Morgan called out, “What’s going on? Deadpool, let me go!” 

“No can do,” Deadpool whispered to her, “I can’t allow Petey’s sister to go splat before we reach the top.” 

And with that something pulled on the webbing, and the two of them lurched upward. 

And Upward.

And upward still. 

The webbing seemed to not be stopping as it pulled Deadpool and Morgan higher and higher up into the air. Morgan freaked, just a little (she didn’t like heights!) and clung to Deadpool with all her might while burying her face into his suit. Her body tensed and she shuddered with every jolt on the web. 

“Shh,” Deadpool soothed her as he ran one hand through her hair (and she really wanted to question that because one arm was already around her waist, and even with a foot wrapped around the rope, they really should be falling off. But the hand in her hair was soothing. It reminded her of her mother.). “Petey won’t let us fall.” 

Peter? What did Peter have to do with… And then Morgan remembered. Her brother had supposedly been born with spider abilities. Of course the spider webs would be from him. How silly of her. Suddenly she felt safer. Even though she’d never met her brother, just knowing that he was the one pulling them up the tower allowed Morgan to feel completely at ease. 

True to Deadpool’s words, they made it to the top in one piece. At the top, a hand reached out to help Deadpool and Morgan off the webbing and into the tower. Deadpool grasped the ledge of the window before passing Morgan to the hand as he told the owner of the hand, “Take her, I’ll let myself in!” 

And with that, the hand was joined by a second and together they scooped Morgan into the tower. She quickly found her footing and told the owner of the hands, “Thank you.”

“No problem,” Came the reply. 

With the answer, Morgan looked up to the owner of the hands. In front of her was a young man, probably around the same age as her. He was dressed plainly in non-dyed cotton clothing, that contrasted his short brown hair. But more than that he was short. Like shorter than Morgan, and pale. His skin was extremely white washed, like he hadn’t seen the sun in years. 

And then Morgan looked into his eyes. They were the exact same shade of brown that Morgan had seen in the mirror for years. The shade of brown that Morgan shared with her father. Furthermore, within those eyes, Morgan could see glimpses of mirth that were so very similar to her father on one of his good days. 

Deadpool could be heard in the background making his annoying Deadpool sounds, but neither Morgan nor the boy before her paid him any attention. They were both so caught up in each other, just staring into one another’s eyes. Finally, the boy’s beautiful eyes turned glassy as tears began to slip down his face. 

“Morgan?” the boy breathed out. 

“Yes,” Morgan replied and that was enough.

The boy rushed to her and engulfed her in a tight hug that she quickly returned. Tears filled Morgan’s eyes too as she cried into her brother’s shoulder. The dampness she felt on her shoulder implied a similar response on her brother’s part. 

And for a while they just stood there, happy in each others’ presence. 

All Morgan could think was ‘Peter, Peter, Peter’ on repeat. He was everything and nothing like she imagined, but that was okay. He was Peter, and he was her brother. 

Finally, Peter pulled her away from him and held her arms length apart. Morgan was okay with this. She wanted to see her brother. She wanted to know him as a sister should. They looked at one another with red rimmed eyes that still leaked tears, but the smiles of absolute joy painted each of their faces. 

“Morgan,” Peter breathed, “You’ve grown so much!” 

“And I finally found you,” Morgan breathed back. And they were back in another tight hug. 

A few hours later, Peter and Morgan had migrated to a firm bed in Peter’s tower. They sat side by side as they talked about everything and anything.

“And then she told me that she married one of your best friends!” Morgan finished.

“So she finally married MJ,” Peter mused, “I’m so happy for her.” 

“Yeah,” Morgan smiled, before she finally asked the question that had been bothering her the entire time, “Peter, Shuri’s quite a bit older than me, but she said that you two were about the same age. How come you still look the same age as me?” 

At that Peter froze, his face in a frown. He then tried to smile as he told her, “Thanos cursed me when I first arrived at the tower. Now until the curse is lifted, I’ll never age.” 

“So you’ve been 15 for over 16 years?!” Morgan cried out.

“Yes,” Peter told her, “But it’s okay. I’m still alive, and this way I get to keep Wade company.”

“Wade?” Morgan asked, “Who’s Wade?” 

“Me!” Deadpool called out, “Nice to meet you Petey’s sister. The name’s Wade Winston Wilson, but don’t go telling people it okay?” 

“Wade,” Peter said as he reached out to grab Deadpool’s hand, “Thank you for bringing my sister here.” 

And Deadpool absolutely preened at Peter’s comment. “It was nothin’ Petey-pie. You’re making me blush!” 

“So,” Morgan asked, “Are you and Wade, you know?” 

Peter’s eyebrows furrowed at Morgan’s question, but Deadpool lighted right up.

“We totally are!” Wade cried out, “100 percent soulmates. Lovers for the rest of eternity. I’d hit that to the day I die! We’re two peas in a pod, the-”

“That’s enough, Wade,” Peter interrupted Deadpool with a fond smile before addressing Morgan, “If you’re asking if I love Wade, then the answer is yes, and he loves me back. We’re lovers, I guess.” 

“Oh, that’s cool.” Morgan told him. Peter smiled and the two returned to chatting about their lives. Only this time, Peter had Wade join in more. Wade moved to sit down beside Peter as they talked and Morgan could see the obvious love in their every action. 

Despite Wade’s bluster, he quieted when Peter shifted over so their sides were touching and took Wade’s hand in his own. When Peter first moved towards Wade, conversation died and Morgan had a front seat on to Wade and Peter’s romance. And from here Morgan came to a stunning realisation.

This place was actually a home. 

Even though Peter had been locked here by Thanos all those years ago, Peter had turned his cage into a place where he could flourish. With a glance around the room, Morgan could see the care put into each object. From the floral tablecloths to the leftover bread sitting on the table, and even the bookcase where scientific sounding books resided. This was a home. It was Peter and Wade’s home. 

And now Morgan worried that Peter would never want to leave. Perhaps he was happy here in his tower with Wade. Maybe he didn’t want his kid sister to show up and save him. Maybe he didn’t want to be saved. After all, if Wade couldn’t break Peter’s curse, no one could. 

Was Morgan just a delusional child?

All these pensive thoughts quieted Morgan, and completely encompassed her mind to the point that she didn’t realise when Peter and Wade silenced themselves. She didn’t realise they were staring at her until Wade cleared his throat and asked, “Everything okay, Petey junior?” 

“Wade,” Peter half giggled, “Junior is used for children of the parent. Morgan isn’t my child. We’re siblings!” 

“Aw,” Wade cried, “But she looks just like you. Can we keep her? I promise not to inflict bodily harm.” 

“No,” Peter answered Wade before turning to his sister, “Morgan, is something wrong?” 

“Why haven’t you broken the curse yet? Why did Thanos take you?” Morgan’s voice was small and she couldn’t meet Peter’s eyes. Instead she stared at the plaid couch and searched for repeating colours. The most common seemed to be red and blue. 

Peter sighed before removing himself from Wade. Wade whined a bit, but Peter quickly shushed the older man. Peter moved to Morgan and wrapped her up in his arms, “Morgan. I’ve always wanted to go home and see you and mom and dad again. But the truth is, that the only way to break the curse is to kill Thanos.”

“Then why haven’t you gotten your boyfriend to kill him yet!” Morgan screeched, “He’s supposed to be the most skilled warrior, ever! Why hasn’t he brought you home yet?! Why make mom and dad worry? Why make me grow up without you?” 

Peter didn’t know how to respond to her outburst, and his lips quivered as he simply held Morgan closer. But Morgan was angry. At that moment, she didn’t want her brother’s comfort. So, instead, she fought against Peter’s grip in an attempt to create some distance between them. However, Peter merely held on tighter until Morgan exhausted herself. 

This were quiet for a few moments until Wade admitted, “I can’t kill him.”

“Wait, what!?” Morgan spoke, turning in Peter’s grip to face Wade, “Why not?” 

“Because that’s my curse!” Wade screamed, “If I could have, I’d have plunged my swords up his ginormous purple ass until it reached his lungs, but I can’t. I’m immortal, but so is Thanos, unless I kill him, but when I kill him, he reincarnated immediately after. Lady Death really likes her games.” 

“You mean the Thanos can’t die?” Morgan asked, “Does that mean Peter’s curse will never break?” 

“Well, the purple chinned bastard could always release the curse.” Wade amended, “But he’d never do that.” 

“Why?” Morgan turned to her brother, “What does he want from you?” 

“Morgan,” Peter whispered, “When Thanos appeared before dad, he knew that I’d volunteer over you. He never wanted to take you. He was only ever after me because I destroyed the mind stone.” 

“That mind stone,” Morgan breathed, “One of the infinity stones.” 

“Yeah. Thanos has been hunting for them for centuries, and now he’s really close to achieving his goal.” Peter whispered, “Except I destroyed the mind stone. But I didn’t really destroy it. Instead, when the mind stone was shattered, the stones energy was absorbed into my body. For the last 16 years I’ve been forced to extract the power from my body to recreate the mind stone.” 

“You have the mind stone?” Morgan asked.

“I do,” Peter replied. He then held out the palm of one of his hands. Morgan stared at it, and after a few moments that hand lit up in orange sparks. 

“That’s so cool,” Morgan exclaimed. 

“I know right!” Wade joined in, “Petey-pie’s the most talented person ever. And I mean that in more ways than one.” 

“Okay, ew,” Morgan told Wade before turning to Peter, “But with access to the mind stone, can’t you figure out how to defeat Thanos for good? I mean, the stone is supposed to be super smart, right?” 

“I’m not all knowing, Morgan,” Peter told her, but there was a shadow in his eyes. A glimpse of something he wasn’t telling her. 

“You do know how to defeat him.” Morgan said with conviction. When Peter jolted at her claims, she pressed on, “You just don’t want to tell us.” 

“How can I?” Peter cried, “The only possible solution wasn’t possible until you showed up, and I won’t risk your life for something like this. I can’t!” 

“What are you talking about?” Wade asked Peter, his tone completely serious, “How can Morgan help us free you? You better start talking Peter.” 

Peter’s eyes were crying as he told them, “We’ll, Wade’s swords hold the enchantment that kills Thanos, but what Wade does the killing he triggers a reincarnation of Thanos. If Morgan wielded the swords and killed Thanos for you, he’d probably stay dead. But I don’t know for certain, and I can’t risk it. I can’t let my parents lose another child.”

“That’s not you choice to make,” Morgan told Peter, “Mom and dad have never been the same since you disappeared. They try to act like everything is normal, but I know they’re hurting. It’s because you’re done, and they miss you. I hadn’t even met you, and I missed you, Peter. If there’s a possibility of saving you, then I’ll do it. I’ll kill Thanos and save you, Peter. That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do since I was 6.” 

“Morgan,” Peter breathed, “I don’t want to risk your life on a maybe.” 

“But I’m willing to, and I want to.” Morgan told him before turning to Wade, “So? What do I have to do to get access to your swords?” 

“Wade, don’t you dare give her your swords!” Peter demanded. 

Once again Wade was torn between two choices and neither Peter or Morgan was giving an inch. He whipped his head back and forth to look at each sibling in a quick flash before switching to the other. Both continued to stare at him expectantly. Both convinced that he’d choose them. 

Finally Wade made his choice. He turned to Peter and for a moment Morgan worried that he agreed with his lover, but instead Wade told Peter, “I’m sorry Petey, but you’ve always wanted to leave the tower, and she’s offering.” 

A wide smile grew on Morgan’s face as Peter began frowning. 

“Great!” Morgan chirped, “C’mon, Wade, let’s go free Peter from this tower!” 

“I won’t let you.” Peter called out as he darted to stand before a door at the back of the room. He settled into a battle ready position. 

“Sorry, Petey,” Wade told the boy before him. He then moved faster that Morgan’s eyes could see. However, Peter seemed to be able to follow the man. He dodged Wade’s first jab and kicked his leg out. 

While Morgan had been told that Peter wasn’t a fighter, he managed to hold his own against Wade. The two traded blows back and forth, but Morgan could easily see the difference in ability. However, Wade didn’t want to hurt Peter. He never once landed a blow that would even bruise Peter. Peter, on the other hand, had no problem fighting dirty and took advantage of Wade’s care. 

Morgan, however, had no problem with damaging her brother a little if it meant she’d be able to ultimately save him. And so, she moved to the fight, and when Peter’s focus was entirely on Wade, she whacked him on the back of his head with the hilt of her sword. 

Peter fell to the floor in a thump. 

When Peter fell, Wade froze. He looked up at Morgan with a curious gaze. She paid him no mind as she asked, “So? How do we summon Thanos?” 

Wade smiled as he opened the door for Morgan. “We’ll there are a couple of ways to summon purple turd, but my personal favourite is the flaming eggplant ritual. Unfortunately, after the last time, Petey forbade eggplants in the tower. Which is too bad because I had this really great idea for a recipe for baba ganoush. But I guess the most effective method is using Petey’s thingy to call him.” 

“Thingy?” Morgan asked as she turned to face Wade, “You’re going to have to be more specific than that.” 

“Petey’s thingy. It’s like a cell phone but one that only sends texts, and not just any texts, but a ‘show up, I have something to show you’ text. Wait! Do you even have cell phones here? They’re so handy. You can look just about anything up with google. Even things that shouldn’t ever be seen by man. Yeah, like that. We don’t talk about that.” Wade babbled. 

He continued to talk about cell phones as if Morgan lived in medieval times, but often fell victim to excruciating tangents that involved a lot of Wade yelling at himself. Morgan let him ramble since he still walked towards the ‘thingy’. And since he still hadn’t explained what it was or what it did, Morgan decided that she’d just make Wade handle the ‘thingy’. 

As he spewed words, Wade led Morgan through a short hallway that lead to a circular stairwell. The two of them were at the top of the stairwell, and so the two climb down the stairs, Wade never stopping talking. They continued to descend down the stairs until they’d descended what felt like over 4 flights of stairs. After that, Wade stopped them (even though there were still many stairs left to descend) and turned to a door to their right. 

Wade opened the door as he continued to talk about something called emojis and ushered Morgan through the door with his hands. Morgan stepped through the door first and stopped dead. Inside was a laboratory like the ones her father owned. Workbenches lined the walls and some were also placed at random throughout the interior of the room. Piles of metal, partially constructed objects, and tools were scattered all over the tables and flowed onto the floor as well. And everything was colored the same metallic colour. 

Everything except a small crescent orange stone that cast an orange glow on everything around it. 

Even from just a moment’s glance, Morgan knew that orange crescent was the beginning of the mind stone. Already, Peter had managed to pull some of the mind stone out of his body and return it to its physical form. And its physical form was captivating. Morgan felt herself being drawn to the orange crescent and couldn’t stop her feet from wandering closer. 

“It hurts him, you know,” Wade commented, all humour gone from his voice.. Morgan turned her him, her eyes questioning his words, and begging for Wade to elaborate. “Pulling the stone out of his body. I’ve watched him do it before, and he can’t pluck more than a grain of sand worth of mind stone out of his body before collapsing. And not just because he’s tired. As he’s removing the sand, he screams. He screams loud enough to wake Gamora and Nebula. And not the nice screams either, but pain filled screams that I can’t stop. I can’t remove his pain.” 

“Then why does he do it?” Morgan asked, “Surely that cannot be his curse? I thought he was already cursed with immortality and to be locked away in this tower.” 

“Thanos makes him do it,” Wade responds, “He forces Peter to perform the ritual every day by threatening to hurt his family.”

And Morgan didn’t need Wade to say any more. Horror already filled her heart. Not only had Peter willingly allowed himself to be separated from his friends and family, but he’d also endured unknown torture for them. Morgan could not allow him to undergo any more torture. And she couldn’t help but wonder if Peter’s screams were why Gamora and Nebula had let her through, so that she could save her brother from this torture. 

“Thank you,” Morgan told Wade, her voice laced with sincerity.

“For what?” Wade turned a puzzled look on her, “I didn’t do anything. Oh wait! I tied you up and threatened to turn you into roadkill. I don’t think you have anything to thank me for. Unless I missed something. How long have you been here?” 

“No, for staying with my brother, and for helping him,” Morgan informed Wade, “Thank you for loving him when my family and I couldn’t be there. Thank you for helping me save him.” 

“I would never abandon him,” Wade said firmly before he brightened, “Now! Let’s summon us a purple headed idiot!” 

“You will not!” A voice rang out. And it wasn’t any voice. It was Peter’s voice. 

Morgan and Wade turned to find Peter standing behind them. In Peter’s hand was a small crystal ball that blended in with the rest of the room’s decor. Judging by Peter’s protectiveness, and Wade’s horrified gasp when he saw the crystal, Morgan determined that the crystal was the Thanos summoner. And now Peter had it. 

“Peter,” Morgan said slowly like trying to calm a wild horse, “Please let me do this. Wade told me how much extracting the mind stone hurts you. I can’t let that happen anymore, not if I can stop it.” 

“Morgan,” Peter’s voice broke, “I can’t let Thanos reach you. I don’t care about my own pain as long as you and mom and dad are fine. I’m sorry.” 

And with that last word, Peter tipped his hand over and let the crystal ball fall to the ground. Wade and Morgan lunged for it, but neither of them reached the crystal before it hit and ground and shattered. 

“It’s over,” Peter told them once the crystal had shattered, “Go home Morgan and forget about me.” 

Morgan shook her head. How could she forget about her brother now? He was real and amazing and she loved him more than she ever could from just hearing stories. She opened her mouth to refute Peter’s orders when the strangest thing happened. The room began to glow in a blue light as some of the objects began to rattle and fall to the floor. 

Peter and Wade exchanged bewildered glances before Wade placed his swords in Morgan hands and pushed her away from them. She stumbled backwards and fell under one of Peter’s tables. 

Almost instantaneously with Morgan’s movement, Thanos appeared before Wade and Peter. He wore a completely bored look on his face, and on his hand, he wore a gold gauntlet that held 4 other stones that glowed like the mind stone. But most importantly, he completely dwarfed the three humans. If Morgan had to guess, she’d say Thanos stood taller than the frost giants she’d fought with Thor and Loki. 

“Peter and Wade,” Thanos said Wade’s name with an overt sneer, “Why have you two summoned me?” 

“Wellllll,” Wade stretched out, “We just had to invite you to our eggplant ritual.” 

Peter’s face froze into one of horror that only deepened when Wade pulled an eggplant out of a pouch on his hip and threw it at Thanos. The eggplant hit Thanos on his chin and broke apart, smearing Thanos in eggplant juice. Thanos did not look impressed. 

“How juvenile,” Thanos dismissed Wade and turned to Peter, “Now, tell me why you really summoned me.” 

Peter froze and his eyes locked into Morgan’s. He tried to gesture for her to run away, but she stubbornly shook her head. She had the opportunity to finish everything. She wasn’t about to run. 

“I won’t ask again.” Thanos informed Peter. 

Peter panicked and told Thanos, “We weren’t trying to summon you. Wade was just fooling around and accidentally knocked the crystal over. We didn’t even know that breaking the crystal would summon you.” 

“Nah,” Wade fake whispered to Thanos, “We totally wanted you here for some good old threesome action.” 

“Wade!” Peter snapped, his eyes darting back to Morgan who’d taken the opportunity to crawl right up behind Thanos. 

Thanos sighed as if he was disappointed in them, “If you have no good reason for summoning me, Peter may begin his ritual early today.” 

“No he won’t!” Morgan decreed as she jumped to her feet, Wade’s swords in hand. 

“And who are you?” Thanos asked, a faint hint of a smile filling his face. 

“My name’s Morgan Stark. You took my brother, prepare to die!” Morgan claimed. 

Wade jumped up and down from where he was standing, “She made a Princess Bride reference. She made a Princess Bride reference. Wait, what!? Petey’s a Stark!” 

Everyone but Peter ignored Wade and all Peter did was flash is lover an apologetic grin. 

Thanos gave Morgan a once over and scoffed, “Didn’t Wade tell you. I am immortal, and unrelentless in my quest. A mere child like you cannot even scratch someone such as I. Your weapons cannot hurt me.” 

“We’ll see about that,” Morgan said, “You stand right there and take my swords. If I land even a single scratch, you let my brother free.” 

“Not even I can free him,” Thanos informed Morgan, “But you are welcome to attempt your futile trial.” 

“Okay then,” Morgan said calmly before she swung Wade’s swords towards Thanos’s head, one coming from each direction. Despite Thanos’s bluster, Wade’s swords cut through Thanos’s neck like Morgan foot through the snow on the Yggdrasil trail, and in no time flat, Thanos’s corpse fell to the floor. 

“Huh,” Wade commented as he walked over to Thanos’s body to give it a kick, “That was easy. So long, you purple pumpkin faced, rat. I shan’t miss you.” 

“He’s dead for real?” Peter piped up, “How do you know, Wade?” 

“Easy peasy, Petey pie,” Wade called out, “When I kill Thanos, he explodes like a bomb into dust and is then immediately reincarnated. I think the little Stark managed to kill him.” 

“Of course I did,” Morgan snarked, “I’m a Stark. We always finish what we started. But Peter, is the curse broken?” 

“I don’t know,” Peter said, but he walked towards the mind stone. Without a thought, Peter taped the partially created stone and it burst into orange flakes that were then absorbed into his body. 

“Wa-hoooo!” Wade cheered, “It’s jailbreak time!” 

“It is,” Peter agreed as a wicked smile spread across his face, “Let’s get out of here.” 

The three sprinted out of the room, leaving Thanos’s cooling body behind. They leapt up the stairs to Peter’s room, and Morgan watched as Peter threw himself out the window with a cry. He fell out the window and Morgan rushed to the window sill. Surely her brother wouldn’t kill himself right after being freed from Thanos’s curse. 

However, Morgan had nothing to worry about as Peter reappeared almost right after he jumped. Thin webbing that ran from under his palm connected him to the window. 

“I’m free!” Peter cried out, “Morgan, you broke the curse!” 

“Yay!” Wade called out, “Now we can explore the world together, Petey. I have to bring you to Weasel’s bar so you can meet the gang. Oh, and we can kidnap Bob as well. This’ll be so fun.” 

“Sure Wade,” Peter said, the largest smile still across his young face, “But first we go home, so I can see mom and dad again. And then we have to visit Wakanda. I can’t wait to see Shuri again. And we can visit Ned and MJ. I can’t wait to see those two again. Ned’ll be so excited to hear about my adventure, and MJ’ll probably scoff at me, but I’ll know she’s really just happy to see me.” 

“One step at a time boys,” A voice greeted them from behind Peter, “First, you need to get out of the tower.” 

Peter turned just as a familiar blue dragon flew up to the window. A young green woman sat behind the dragon and waved at the trio. 

“Nebula?” Morgan breathed, “But I thought Thanos’s cursed you to be a dragon.”

“Turns out, I’m a shifter,” Nebula said, “Thanos’s curse was to make me forget that he murdered my family, and lock me into my dragon form. But now I’m free to do whatever I want. I want to thank you for that.” 

“Yes,” The green girl, who sounded a lot like Gamora said, “I want to thank you as well. Now I can find my idiot family once more.” 

“I’m happy for you,” Morgan told both women. 

“So,” Nebula asked, “Who wants a ride to Stark Castle?”’

“And then the three heroes flew back to Stark castle with Nebula and Gamora and were greeted by a happy mommy and daddy. They lived together forever and ever after.” Morgan finished before looking up at Peter. 

“That was amazing Morgan,” Peter told his sister as he ruffled her hair, “You’re such a good story teller.” 

“The bestest ever!” Morgan cheered, “I wish our lives were like my story. That would be so cool!” 

“Oh, I don’t know,” Peter told Morgan, “We have our share of superheroes, and I think I like how our story turned out better.” 

“Why?” Morgan demanded. 

“Because I got to know Morgan the whole time,” Peter told his sister as he leaned over to kiss her forehead, “I’m glad I didn’t have to wait until my baby sister was 16 to meet her.” 

“I guess that’s true,” Morgan agreed, “I wouldn’t want to be like story-Morgan and not meet my Petey until I’m old. I like knowing Petey now.” 

“Me two,” Peter agreed, “Now go Morgan. I’ll see you when you wake up.” 

“See you, Petey,” Morgan said. As her eyes drifted closed, Peter faded out of view, and when she opened them again, her mommy was there to bring her into another day. 

**Author's Note:**

> So this story can be seen as in the same universe as The Imaginary Friend, but you can also read it as a stand alone. Just pretend that at the end, Morgan fell asleep and woke up to her mother's face. For those who've read The Imaginary Friend, you know what I'm referring to. 
> 
> Anyway, now that I'm done this monster, I can start writing more (shorter) stories. I really want to write more to The Imaginary Friends, and after seeing Far From Home I am so excited to write more. If you haven't seen the movie yet, go see it. It's amazing, I promise.


End file.
